Uddhav Thackeray loyalists Sanjay Raut, Arvind Sawant and Anil Desai met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday amidst the move by six of their fellow Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs to switch camps to the Shinde faction.
Following the meeting, Anil Desai told reporters on Wednesday that they had submitted a representation to the Speaker urging him to guard against any unlawful defection.
"Under the law, one cannot simply merge with a party even if they have the support of two-thirds of the MPs. Only the original party can merge if a group has the required two-thirds strength," he said.
"The discretion lies with the Speaker. So if a group claiming to have two-thirds support approaches to merge with another party, that group cannot be recognised under the rules as only the original party can merge under the provisions. Even if there are six MPs, it does not matter," Desai added.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has nine MPs in the Lok Sabha, and at least six will have to jump ship together to escape disqualification under the anti-defection law.
Sanjay Raut said that Om Birla assured them that he would factor in every aspect of the law before taking any decision. "The Speaker is a respectable person and he told us that he would keep in mind all aspects if anyone comes to meet him," Raut was quoted as saying by PTI.
Apart from Sawant and Desai, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Rajabhau Waje has declared that he remains loyal to party supremo Uddhav Thackeray. The other six MPs are being seen as potential defectors to the ruling Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde.
The six MPs who are likely to form a breakaway group include Sanjay Jadhav (Parbhani), Bhausaheb Wakchaure (Shirdi), Sanjay Deshmukh (Yavatmal), Nagesh Patil Ashtikar (Hingoli), Omraje Nimbalkar (Dharashiv), and Sanjay Patil (Mumbai North East).
All six MPs arrived in Delhi on Tuesday night for a meeting with Eknath Shinde, which was held at the Delhi residence of Shinde’s son and MP, Dr Shrikant Shinde. Besides MLA Pratap Sarnaik and the MPs, a legal advisory team of 16 people was also present at the meeting. Shinde has taken a very cautious stance so as not to face disqualification.
