Newly appointed Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has been reinstated as a Shiv Sena legislative leader by the office of Speaker Rahul Narvekar, just one day before the Shinde government is set to face a floor test in the assembly to prove their majority.
The newly-appointed speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly, in a letter issued on Sunday night, removed Shiv Sena MLA Ajay Chaudhary as the legislative party leader, in a major blow to former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.
The speaker further recognized the appointment of Bharat Gogawale from the Shinde camp as the chief whip of the Shiv Sena. He also removed Sunil Prabhu from the position, who belonged to the Thackeray camp of the party. The Sena said that this decision by the speaker will be challenged by them in court.
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.
The development comes as a major setback 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.
Shiv Sena leader Ajay Chaudhary said, as per PTI reports, “When my name was proposed for the Shiv Sena group leader’s post, it was signed by Shiv Sena MLAs Dada Bhuse and Sanjay Rathod. They both later joined the Shinde camp. How can the speaker ignore these facts? When my appointment was recognised by acting speaker Narhari Zirwal, how come the newly-appointed speaker Rahul Narvekar can intervene?”
Meanwhile, the newly appointed Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government will be facing a floor test in the Maharashtra legislative assembly today, July 4, to prove their majority as the current government.
(With PTI inputs)
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