Amidst high drama, the Government was made to realise that law and order has deteriorated completely what with revolvers available easily and one actually brought in the new imposing building of the Vidhan Bhavan by Sena member Deepak Paigude representing Pune.

As the Sena took Government to task on several issues including the meagre procurement price of cotton, taxes on the notebooks, the increase in the number of infiltrators in Mumbai, Chief Minister Narayan Rane of the Congress had to finally admit that the previous Sena-BJP government functioned quite well and it was better to be in the opposition than to run the government with its alliance partners! So when did Narayan Rane switch over to theCongress? And if he is the chief minister, who is his deputy? The answers to all these queries were provided at the marathon mock session of the State Assembly held at a holiday resort on the outskirts of the city. Former minister Babanrao Gholap acted as the deputy chief minister, but did not speak a word through the session.

All the talking was done by the newly elected MLAs of the Shiv Sena who learnt a few lessons about the legislative ways and means. Datta Nalawade who acted as the chairman of the State Assembly had to frequently caution the members about the rights and privileges of the house and how its decorum should be maintained. And all of them were warned not to play to the gallery to attract media attention. Paigude, who produced a pistol to prove his point that law and order had deteriorated, was reprimanded by Nalawade not to repeat the incident in future.

The proceedings of the mock session began sharp at 9 am. At the outset Nalawade congratulated the government for the construction of thenew imposing building of Vidhan Bhavan. Indeed nothing was amiss at the session which began with the question hour in which the Sena sought information from the Government on the indiscriminate lathi-charge on Shiv Sainiks at the high court in Mumbai.

Education Minister Sudhir Joshi said that the Government will reconsider the decision about taxes on notebooks, while Finance Minister Bal Nandgaonkar assured the opposition that the Government will not spare anyone in the Rs 600 crore scam.

Chief Minister Rane, answering queries put by opposition leader Diwakar Raote regarding the developmental works, said that the Government would not be able to stall any works because of public pressure. ``