Shinde faction ‘real’ Shiv Sena: Speaker

Mumbai: Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday held that the Eknath Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena was the “real political party” when rival groups emerged on June 21, 2022.

Reading out his ruling on disqualification petitions filed by Shinde-led Sena and the rival faction led by Uddhav Thackeray against each other’s MLAs, Narwekar also said that Sunil Prabhu of the Sena (UBT) ceased to be the whip from June 21, 2022, and Bharat Gogawale of the Shinde group became the authorised whip.

The speaker also held that the Shiv Sena ‘pramukh’ (chief) did not have the power to remove any leader from the party. The 1999 party constitution submitted to the Election Commision was the valid constitution for deciding the issues, he said. This constitution made the `Rashtriya Karyakarini’ (national executive) the supreme body, he said.