Jolt to Thackeray faction as 12 Shiv Sena MPs shift allegiance to Shinde
NEW DELHI: After the Maharashtra assembly, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Tuesday suffered a fresh jolt with 12 of its 19 Lok Sabha members shifting allegiance to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday named rebel Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale as the leader of the party in the Lower House of Parliament.
Shewale, the leader of the rebel faction of the Shiv Sena, claimed that they have aligned with the BJP as per the wishes of Thackeray, who was himself making similar efforts in June last year but backtracked later.
The Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, however, rubbished claims made by Shewale.
The 12 Lok Sabha members also wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla identifying Shewale as their leader, expressing no confidence in incumbent Vinayak Raut and retaining five-term member Bhawna Gawli as the chief whip.
The letter came a day after the Thackeray camp had written to the Speaker asserting that Vinayak Raut is the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha and Rajan Vichare is the chief whip. It also urged the Speaker not to entertain any representation from the rival faction.
Addressing a press conference flanked by the 12 Lok Sabha members, Shinde claimed that the Lok Sabha Speaker had recognised Shewale as the Shiv Sena leader in the lower house. However, there was no confirmation in this regard from the Speaker’s office.
Shinde asserted that the 12 Lok Sabha members were following the ideals of Balasaheb Thackeray and were the original Shiv Sena. The faction is also learnt to have staked a claim on the parliamentary party office in Parliament.
“I welcome the stand taken by 12 Lok Sabha members of the Shiv Sena in supporting us. Our stand (of aligning with the BJP) was supported by 50 MLAs. We also received support from the party workers
as well as people of the state,” Shinde said.
Shewale, a two-term member from Mumbai South Central, said Shiv Sena MPs had asked Thackeray in June last year to realign with the BJP as it would be difficult for them to win the 2024 parliamentary elections if the alliance with Congress and NCP continued.
Shewale claimed that Thackeray had told the Shiv Sena MPs that he too was keen on realigning with the BJP and had made a lot of efforts in that direction last year.
However, the decision to suspend 12 BJP MLAs from the Maharashtra assembly for one year in July last year created doubts in the BJP ranks about the sincerity of the Sena’s desire to revive the alliance with the BJP. Shewale claimed that Thackeray had presented the MPs with three options an alliance with the BJP, going it alone and continuing with the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi coalition with Congress and NCP.
“We have merely chosen the first option suggested by Thackeray,” he said.
The Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena rejected the claim. “There was no talk of Shri Uddhav ji wanting to get back into the previous alliance at the MPs meet, so that’s obfuscation to justify deceit,” Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi said.
Shiv Sena has 19 members in the Lok Sabha, including one from Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and three members in Rajya Sabha.