Mumbai: after a standstill split In the Shiv Sena’s legislative division last month, 12 of the party’s 19 MPs have now asked in a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker to identify them as a “separate group”.
Twelve MPs, who joined the rebel faction of the party led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, submitted a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday morning.
Shiv Sena MP from Nashik Hemant Tukaram Godse told ThePrint, “We, 12 MPs have given a letter to the Speaker to identify us as a group led by Rahul Shewale. Our chief whip will be Bhavna Gawli.”
At least eight of the 12 MPs now in the Shinde camp attended a meeting called by Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray at his Mumbai residence Matoshree last week to discuss the party’s stand on the presidential election. Shiv Sena supported Draupadi Murmu, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Nationalist Democratic Alliance’s candidate in the election, said she is a tribal and a woman, and deserves support beyond politics.
The MPs who have supported the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena include Gajanan Kirtikar, Vinayak Raut, Sanjay Jadhav, Arvind Sawant, Rajan Vichare, Omprakash Rajinibalkar and Kalaben Delkar.
“Some of us had expressed our displeasure with Uddhav sahib and told him that we want the party to forge an alliance with the BJP,” Godse said.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi on Tuesday morning, Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said, “The houses of some MPs in Maharashtra are being monitored. Suddenly a lot of security arrangements have been made in front of the houses of some MPs. Police force, central forces and money are being used. This includes blackmailing. But that’s fine. will be seen what happens (Whatever happens we will deal with it).”
beach break
Several MPs told ThePrint last week that some of them were meeting among themselves on how to align Thackeray with Shinde and persuade him to forge an alliance with the BJP.
Last month, Shinde had rebelled against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government in the state led by Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister. he finally got it help Of the 55 Shiv Sena MLAs, 39 out of and formed the government with the BJP.
The MVA government consisted of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress.
Shinde’s MP son, Shrikant Shinde, and Gawli were among the first MPs to extend their support to the Shinde faction, prompting Thackeray to remove Gawli from the post of chief whip and appoint Vichare instead.
(Edited by Jinnia Ray Chowdhury)
Read also: Moral, Political and Ideological Questions on Maharashtra: First Easiest to Answer, Third Hardest