Mumbai The Shiv Sena versus Eknath Shinde battle has entered a fresh phase with the Sena taking umbrage to two members of the Shinde faction being accommodated on the significant business advisory committee (BAC) of the state legislative assembly, while leaving out those MLAs loyal to party president Uddhav Thackeray.
The 12-member BAC decides on issues like the dates and period of the sessions of the state legislature and plays a role in ensuring the smooth conduct of these sessions by riding over any disruptions. It includes the speaker, deputy speaker, chief minister, deputy chief minister and representatives of recognised political parties in the legislature.
Ajay Choudhari, the Shiv Sena MLA from Sewri, who is the group leader of the Thackeray camp, said that on Thursday, he had met speaker Rahul Narwekar with leader of opposition Ajit Pawar and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders Chhagan Bhujbal and Jayant Patil.
“We said that we are the official Shiv Sena,” said Choudhari, adding that they had requested the speaker to include Sunil Prabhu, the chief whip of the Thackeray camp, and himself (Prabhu) in the BAC, instead of ministers Uday Samant and Dada Bhuse, who belong to the Shinde faction. A formal letter had been submitted to the speaker, he stated.
Of the Shiv Sena’s 55 MLAs, 40 have shifted loyalties to Shinde, who launched his rebellion by stealth on June 20 and eventually toppled the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Thackeray. The Thackeray camp moved to replace Shinde as the group leader with Choudhuri, but the speaker recognised Shinde in the position. The Shinde camp’s move to replace Prabhu with Bharat Gogawale as the chief whip was also approved. The Supreme Court (SC) is hearing a clutch of petitions on the change of guard in Maharashtra.
However, when contacted, speaker Narwekar said that chief minister Shinde had been recognised as the group leader of the Shiv Sena in the assembly, and hence, any change in the Sena’s representatives on the BAC needed to be recommended by him.
“As per the rules, the representation is based on the strength of the party. Based on its strength, the Shiv Sena party has already been given representation based on the recommendation of the legislature party ‘s group leader. So, the slot for the Shiv Sena is full. For any change of names, the group leader of the Shiv Sena has to inform us. According to us, Eknath Shinde ji is the group leader (of the Shiv Sena),” he added.