CM Shinde's Faction Is 'Real' Shiv Sena:All Things To Know
Producer: Mehak Pal Editor: Aparna Singh
Maharashtra Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar delivered the much-awaited verdict in the Sena versus Sena tussle on January 10, 2024.
With the verdict Rahul Narwekar ended an 18-month legacy war between two party factions, one led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the other by his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray.
Rahul Narwekar said CM Eknath Shinde’s faction is the “real” Shiv Sena as his group had a majority of 37 out of the total 54 Sena MLAs when the rival factions emerged in June 2022.
The speaker rejected Uddhav Thackeray-led faction’s plea to disqualify 16 “rebel” MLAs of the Shiv Sena, including Shinde.
He observed all the petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs are rejected and no MLA is being disqualified.
During his reading of the order, Narwekar said that no party leadership can use provisions of the 10th schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law) for dissent within a party.
He also stated that the Shiv Sena pramukh (chief) did not hold the power to remove any leader from the party.
The speaker did not accept the argument that the will of the party chief and the will of the party were synonymous.
Narwekar stated that the party constitution was the relevant document on which to decide the real party as it lays down the leadership structure. According to him, it was the valid constitution for deciding the issues of leadership, ownership, dissent, and defection among other issues.