New Delhi: After the sudden fall of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government comes the fight for ‘real’ Shiv Sena. The Eknath Shinde camp has written to the Election Commission (EC) seeking its recognition as the ‘primary party’ commanding support of not just MLAs but also a major chunk of the Sena Parliamentarians.
This comes after 12 of the Shiv Sena MPs in Parliament shifted their loyalties to the faction led by Maha CM Eknath Shinde and declared Rahul Shewale as the leader of the House. Speaker Om Prakash Birla also approved Shewale as the new Sena leader in the House, thus ending all speculations of their association with Thackeray camp, as claimed by the latter.
A day ago, 12 out of the 19 Sena LS MPs had written to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding that Shewale be recognized as their leader while expressing no confidence in incumbent Vinayak Raut.
The split in Shiv Sena, which started with pull-out from Shiv Sena-led MVA government reached a conclusive stage after 12 party MPs have declared mutiny against the leadership. The party has a total of 19 MPs in the Parliament, out of which 18 are from Maharashtra.
Earlier, more than 40 out of 55 Sena MLAs switched loyalties to Shinde camp, thus ruling out the anti-defection law which calls for action against the ‘opportunists’ who quit party before accumulating 2/3rd majority.
Thackeray camp also wrote to the poll watchdog last night and urged it not to entertain any plea or representation from its breakaway faction.
Eknath Shinde took oath as the Maharashtra CM on June 30, a day after Uddhav stepped down from the post in wake of rebellion from party MLAs, thus pushing the government in minority.
