MUMBAI Earlier this month, while issuing a verdict on the split in Shiv Sena last year, the Supreme Court had slammed the then governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for his decision of calling for a floor test and terming it an error. Now, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has decided to take the verdict to the people to help them understand its fine print. The party believes the initiative will help in exposing the “illegitimate” ways deployed to form the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government.
On Monday, NCP organised a one-day seminar at Y B Chavan Centre, where former housing minister Jitendra Awhad explained how the verdict was in fact against the Shinde-led party and his government formed in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The seminar was attended by NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and other senior leaders.
This is the first of many public meeting the party plans to hold: Awhad said 50,000 copies of the verdict would be printed and distributed among people, while the party’s working president in Mumbai, Rakhi Jadhav, said it would be shared with all the 227 BMC wards of the city.
Awhad pointed out if the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) succeeds in this endeavour, then the three-party coalition could hope for better results than the recently held Karnataka assembly elections.
He added that the court’s verdict was not limited to one party, and can be used by all the parties as it underscores the lack of defence of a split. “Those who were trying to escape in the name of the split cannot do so as this provision does not exist in the tenth schedule after paragraph 3 (which allowed a split) was deleted,” the NCP MLA said.
“The apex court’s decision also clarified that the group leader and chief whip can be appointed by the political party and the legislators will have to follow its orders. Thus, the appointment of Bharat Gogawale as chief whip has been declared as ‘illegal’ by SC,” Awhad said interpreting the apex court’s decision.
Bracing for split in NCP
In the meeting, Awhad also told leaders and the cadre that the whip named by the state president Jayant Patil, who is also the legislative chief of the party, will be held as valid in case of a split in the party in future. He made the statement in the backdrop of speculations of senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar forging an alliance with BJP with the help of a group of MLAs.
“The SC has rendered the chief whip of Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena illegal. It also means that if a crisis arises in Maharashtra, then Jayant Patil can appoint the chief whip and he will also be considered as leader of the legislative party,” Awhad said. Both Patil and Awhad are close to the NCP supremo, who was seen laughing after Awhad made the statement, while looking to Patil seated next to him.
Pawar had appointed Patil as legislative head of the party soon after Ajit Pawar formed a government with BJP with the help of a splinter group of NCP MLAs in November 2019.
