Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath “Shinde’s faction was the real Shiv Sena political party when rival factions emerged on 21st June 2022”, ruled Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday. The verdict came as a major setback for the Uddhav Thackeray faction’s as Narwekar rejected the petition by Thackeray to disqualify 16 Shiv Sena MLAs including Shinde.
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On Wednesday, the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker issued a verdict on disqualification pleas against Eknath Shinde and several MLAs. As the verdict came in four of the Shinde factions, here’s what happens next with Uddhav Thackeray faction, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).
Following the Speaker’s verdict, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Sanjay Raut and Aaditya Thackeray warned that their political party will approach the Supreme Court against the Speaker’s order.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said the Speaker’s verdict was in violation of the Supreme Court order and is a “ploy to kill democracy”. Thackeray had earlier raised objection to a meeting between Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and Eknath Shinde, just ahead of the verdict in the Shiv Sena MLA disqualification case.
Thackeray said, “The way he made Narvekar sit, it was clear that he was in collusion. I had expressed my doubts yesterday that this is a ploy to kill democracy… We will see whether a case of contempt of the Supreme Court a be made out or not.”
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Explaining further, Thackeray said, “The Supreme Court had clearly said that the Governor had misused his position and made a wrong decision…Supreme Court will not stop without giving complete justice to the people and Shiv Sena…”
According to reports, Uddhav Thackeray had said earlier that his party had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court objecting to a visit by Speaker Rahul Narwekar to Eknath Shinde before the verdict on disqualification pleas.
Meanwhile, Raut said, “ Today’s Shiv Sena ‘owner’ Mr Shinde wasn’t even born when the party was established…The Shiv Sena won’t finish with this one decision. We will go to the Supreme Court.” Sanjay Raut alleged a “match-fixing” in this case.
Even Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi contended that the “decision by the Speaker goes against the spirit of the Supreme Court order eight months back”.
With the recent development in the Maharashtra politics, the number of Shiv Sena (UBT) MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly stands at 16. In 2022, when Shinde broke away from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in June 2022, he had the support of 37 MLAs, Narwekar said. Thackeray had the support of 16 MLAs.
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