Birla ignores Udhhav camp leader’s letter as 12 Sena MPs met him seeking change
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday won another political round against the Uddhav Thackeray camp as Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla recognised Rahul Shewale as the Shiv Sena leader in the Lower House of Parliament.
“Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has recognised Rahul Shewale as the Shiv Sena leader in the Lower House,” said the Maharashtra Chief Minister, who staged a political coup against Thackeray and ousted him from power in Maharashtra.
The two factions are now fighting to claim the organisation and legacy of late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
Shinde, who spoke to newspersons, was flanked by 12 Shiv Sena Lok Sabha members who had written to Speaker Om Birla to change the leader of the Parliamentary party.
Rahul Shewale, the new leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, said, “Uddhav Thackeray was keen on realigning with the BJP, but went back on his word.”
“We had also asked Thackeray not to support Margaret Alva for the VP’s post, but our views were ignored,” he added.
The Shiv Sena has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha of whom 12 are lending their support to the Shinde camp.
Twelve Lok Sabha members of the Shiv Sena, including Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s son Shrikant Shinde, earlier met Speaker Om Birla and requested him to change the party’s floor leader in the Lower House of Parliament.
The rebel Shiv Sena MPs met Birla a day after the party’s floor leader, Vinayak Raut, gave a letter to the Speaker, asking him not to entertain any representation from the rival faction.
“Twelve Lok Sabha members of the Shiv Sena met Speaker Om Birla and requested him to appoint Rahul Shewale in place of Vinayak Raut as the party’s floor leader,” Hemant Godse, one of the 12 MPs of the Shinde faction who met Birla, said.
Raut, in his letter submitted to the Speaker on Monday night, had made it clear that he was the “duly appointed” leader of the Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party and Rajan Vichare was the chief whip.
As per sources, 12 MPs backing the Shinde Government are - Dhairyasheel Sambhajirao Mane, Sadashiv Lokhande, Hemant Godse, Hemant Patil, Rajendra Gavit, Sanjay Mandlik, Shrikant Shinde, Shrirang Barne, Rahul Shewale, Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav, Krupal Tumane, Bhavna Gawli. Asked about his visit to Delhi, the Chief Minister said he was here for discussions with the legal team on the disqualification petition against 16 MLAs supporting him filed by the Uddhav Thackeray camp.
He will also hold discussions with the legal team on the Other Backward Class (OBC) reservations issue as the matter is expected to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court.
“The Maharashtra Government is committed to providing justice to OBCs,” Shinde told reporters here.
Faced by a rebellion in its ranks, senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said the party was ready for a fight over the symbol and control of the organisation.
Interacting with the media here, Raut also claimed that the BJP was trying to break Maharashtra into three pieces, and making a dent in the Shiv Sena ranks was part of the saffron party’s conspiracy.
He also hit out at Shinde and accused him of trying to break the Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party at a time when the State was struggling to come to terms with massive floods in some parts.
“We are ready for any fight, be it for the symbol or the party organisation. A few MPs and MLAs may be leaving us. But MLAs and MPs alone do not make up the Shiv Sena,” Raut said, adding Shiv Sainiks will make it difficult for the rebels to win any election in the future.
He reminded the breakaway faction of the assistance given to them by the party supremo Uddhav Thackeray politically, socially and financially over the years.
Raut also took a swipe at Shinde saying he had to make visits to Delhi as he was a “BJP Chief Minister”.
“I never recall Shiv Sena Chief Ministers Manohar Joshi or Narayan Rane making rounds of the national Capital for Cabinet expansion and other issues,” he said.