Leader of the opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis has said that BJP and its alliance partners would be boycotting today's customary tea party hosted by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on the eve of the Winter Session of the State Legislature.<br />''<br />''The Winter Session of the Maharashtra Legislature will begin tomorrow in Mumbai. Normally, the winter session is held in Nagpur, whereas, the Budget and Monsoon session of the state legislature is held in Mumbai.<br />''<br />''Addressing a press conference ahead of the week-long session of the state legislature in Mumbai, Fadnavis launched a scathing attack against the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and questioned that when Parliament session can go on for longer durations, then why is the state government curtailing its session time and again.<br />''<br />''He said the election for the new Speaker of the legislative assembly is expected to be held in the ensuing session. He, however, ruled that this particular election will be held at a time when twelve MLAs of BJP are under suspension for a period of one year.<br />''<br />''It is to be mentioned that 12 BJP MLAs were suspended on 5th of July this year during the monsoon session of the legislature through a resolution over their unruly behavior in the House.<br />''<br />''The senior BJP leader said that the ruling dispensation does not trust its own MLAs and fears that they would jump ship, as a reason they have suspended 12 MLAs of the BJP.<br />''<br />''He further said that suspending the MLAs of the opposition party shows the level of insecurity that has engulfed the MVA government.<br />''<br />''Taking potshots at the government on the cancellation of political reservations for the OBCs in local bodies and municipal corporations, he said that the state government wasted two years but could not collect the empirical data. Fadnavis said, now the government counsel has sought three months' time from the Supreme Court to collect empirical data.<br />''<br />''He also slammed the state government for not reducing the Value Added Tax (VAT) on Petrol and Diesel. He said, when the Centre reduced prices on petrol and diesel as many as 27 states also slashed VAT. However, the Maharashtra government did not show any willingness to reduce the VAT on fuel prices. <br />''<br />''<br />