E Shinde Faction Is "Real Sena", Says Speaker. Setback For Team Thackeray

The game, set and match in Maharashtra went in favour of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde today as Speaker Rahul Narwekar declared that his faction was the "real Shiv Sena" and the MLAs of his camp cannot be disqualified. Uddhav Thackeray did not have the power to remove Eknath Shinde from Shiv Sena and the copy of the party constitution he produced is not with the Election Commission, Mr Narwekar said, while delivering his verdict on disqualification petitions pending since June 2022. The disqualification petitions from both camps, though, were dismissed by the Speaker.

The petitions were filed when the Shiv Sena split and Eknath Shinde, joined hands with the BJP, formed government in Maharashtra, unseating then Chief Minister and Sena chief Mr Thackeray.

Mr Narwekar based his decisions on the version of the constitution available with the Election Commission, saying it will form the basis of deciding on the leadership structure and from there, he would conclude which faction of the Shiv Sena should be considered the real party.

This version, he said, was not the one submitted by Mr Thackeray in 2018, but the one that was there since 1999 which the Shinde faction was citing. Under that, it was clear that all the points were in favour of the Chief Minister, said Mr Narwekar.

The implication of the decision was that the whip issued by his faction stands and in a huge setback to the Thackeray faction, the MLAs who supported him, stood a chance of being disqualified. The list had 14 of the 16 MLAs supporting Uddhav Thackeray. The Thackeray faction had filed disqualification petitions against 16 MLAs of the Shinde camp, including the Chief Minister.

Uddhav Thackeray said Mr Narwkar's decision is an "insult of the Supreme Court and murder of democracy". His Shiv Sena UBT faction will go to court and file a challenge, he said.

"He (the Speaker) has made a thief the master of the House," Mr Thackeray said, voicing doubts that Mr Narwekar had any idea of what he was tasked with by the Supreme Court.

"He has given a decision that exceeds the brief of the Supreme Court. The court had given a framework, but he distorted it into something else... He thinks he is above the Supreme Court. How can a tribunal be above the court? He should have made laws against party hopping stricter. Instead, he was busy clearing a path for himself," Mr Thackeray said, pointing out that Mr Narwekar has "changed parties many times".

Priyanka Chaturvedi, one of the leaders supporting Mr Thackeray, slammed Mr Narwekar's decision, saying it was an "unfortunate compromise of ethics".

Mr Narwekar's decision came after much prodding from the Supreme Court, which had finally given the January 10 deadline.

In July last year, Mr Narwekar, as the newly elected Speaker, had appointed Bharat Gogawale of the Eknath Shinde faction as the whip, removing Sunil Prabhu, who belonged to the Thackeray faction. He stuck to that decision today, even though it was held bad in law.

Back then, Mr Narwekar had argued that it was because Mr Gogawale was appointed by the legislature party. But the heart of the matter was which faction was the real Shiv Sena, he had said.

"The (Supreme) court has never said that the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray is the political party which actually represents the Shiv Sena or it is the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde," he had said, pointing out that it was only he who could take that decision.

In February this year, the Election Commission recognised the Eknath Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena and gave it ownership of the bow and arrow election symbol of the undivided party founded by the late Balasaheb Thackeray.