In a late night power flex, ahead of the Maharashtra assembly floor test, Speaker Rahul Narwekar reinstated Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as Shiv Sena legislature party leader, removing Ajay Chaudhary who was appointed by Uddhav Thackeray. Earlier, Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal had appointed Choudhary as the Shiv Sena's group leader in the House in place of rebel leader Shinde. At that point, BJP and the rebel leaders had cried foul, questioning the deputy speaker's actions.
A letter issued by the office of Speaker Rahul Narwekar reinstated Shinde as the Shiv Sena's legislative party leader and also recognises the appointment of Bharat Gogawale from the Shinde camp as the chief whip of the Sena, removing Sunil Prabhu, who belongs to the Thackeray faction. The development comes as a major blow to the Thackeray faction comprising 16 MLAs who will be bound by the whip to be issued by Gogawale for Monday's trust vote. If these 16 MLAs refuse to follow the whip, they may face disqualification.
The letter addressed to Shiv Sena rebel MLA and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde stated that the Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan administration had received a letter from his faction on June 22 objecting to Shinde's removal as the group leader of the Shiv Sena Legislative Party by the party chief Uddhav Thackeray.
Reacting to the development, Shiv Sena chief MP Arvind Sawant said his party will challenge this "unconstitutional" decision in court. Former Secretary General of Lok Sabha P.D.T. Acharya has given directives that the party leader has the right to appoint the group leader of the legislative unit of that party. "How can you say that [Eknath Shinde] is the [legislative] party leader? We will challenge this decision in court. This is highly unfortunate. The decision is taken on Sunday late night which speaks volumes about how it must have been taken," said Sawant
