The Opposition parties in Maharashtra Legislative Council staged a walkout on the first day of the winter session here today protesting against the appointment of Ajit Pawar as deputy CM, stating that it was not a constitutional post and his appointment was 'illegal'.

As soon as the House assembled, Chairman Shivajirao Deshmukh took up the listed business that included appointment of Pawar as leader of the house, but leader of opposition Vinod Tawde argued that 'deputy chief minister' was not a constitutional post, and technically the very appointment of Ajit Pawar was illegal.

Pawar was re-inducted in the state cabinet recently and appointed as deputy chief minister but without any portfolio.

Joining the issue, Jayant Patil of Peasants and Workers Party too supported Tawde and demanded that the announcement of Leader of House be postponed, which received support from the entire Opposition bloc.

Patil cited the arrangement in the Lok Sabha where since 1991 the Prime Minister is not considered a Leader of House and hence another Minister is appointed as Leader of House and currently Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde is Leader of House in Lok Sabha.

The objection raised by the Opposition held-up the introduction and subsequent appointment of Pawar as Leader of House for about half an hour.

The Chairman later overruled the objections raised by the opposition, citing the judgement of Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court in 1998 which had found the appointment of deputy CM as legal.

He also pointed out that Chhagan Bhujbal had held the post of Deputy Chief Minister three times, Vijaysingh Mohite-Patil was Dy CM two times and R R Patil and even BJP's leader Gopinath Munde were Dy CM earlier and allowed Parliamentary Affairs Minister to make announcement about Ajit Pawar being appointed as Leader of the House.

However, unsatisfied with Chairman's ruling, the entire Opposition trooped out of the House.