"Tight Slap On Face Of Those...": E Shinde Jabs Uddhav Thackeray After Speaker's Ruling

A day after Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar held that the faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was the "real Shiv Sena political party", the CM termed the verdict as a victory of truth and democracy, and the defeat of autocracy, dictatorship and dynasty politics.

Without naming Uddhav Thackeray, who heads the party's rival faction, he said the order was a "tight slap" on the face of those who ran the party as if it was their private limited company.

He was addressing a press conference on his home turf Thane.

CM Shinde scored a big political win on Wednesday after Speaker Narwekar held that the Shiv Sena faction led by him was the "real political party" when rival groups emerged in June 2022.

Giving a much-awaited ruling on the cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs following a split in the party, Mr Narwekar did not disqualify any MLA from the two camps.

Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) later said it will approach the Supreme Court against the speaker's order.

"Satyameva Jayate...The order of the assembly speaker on Shiv Sena is a victory of truth and democracy. It is a defeat of autocracy, dictatorship and dynasty politics. It also proved that no political party, organisation can be run like a private limited company and that nobody can take decisions as per one's whims and fancies," CM Shinde said.

"The order is a tight slap on the face of those who were running the party as if it was their private limited company...This is a victory of Shiv Sainiks, Balasheb Thackeray and Anand Dighe's thoughts and principles," CM Shinde said.

Mr Dighe was Mr Shinde's mentor.

"This victory symbolises a decisive response to those who treated the party as their private enterprise. It is a stern rebuke to them for their management of party affairs" he said.

In a democratic set-up, the majority's opinion holds significance and allegations should not replace the legitimate verdict, he added.

"Running a political party is not the same as managing a private limited company. Insecurity led to this kind of behaviour and there was a blatant disregard for Balasaheb's teachings," he said, targeting Uddhav Thackeray.

He also accused the opposition of making baseless allegations against the speaker.

On the dismissal of the disqualification petition filed by his party's chief whip Bharat Gogawale, CM Shinde expressed dissatisfaction over the reason not being mentioned in the order.

The party's legal team would study the order and determine appropriate steps, he said.

Mr Shinde hit out at the Thackeray-led faction over the conduct of its leaders, and labelled their actions as undemocratic and unbecoming.

He said the undivided Shiv Sena had fought the last assembly election with the BJP, but it betrayed the latter by forming an alliance with other parties. "People of the state will give an appropriate answer to them," he said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)