A delegation of legislators from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) on Thursday met with Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and urged him to expedite the hearing on the disqualification of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs of the Eknath Shinde camp.
Terming the talks with Mr. Narvekar held inside the Assembly premises as “constructive”, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, expressed confidence that Mr. Narvekar would make a decision soon.
“The Supreme Court has directed the Speaker to adjudicate on the issue within a reasonable frame of time. I do not want to interpret what that time period is…the Speaker has assured us that he would take a decision in this matter as soon as possible. The talks held today were satisfactory from our point of view,” Mr. Danve said.
A delegation of the Shiv Sena (UBT) MLAs had on May 15 submitted a 79-page memorandum to Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal at the Vidhan Bhavan as Mr. Narvekar was absent, away on a tour of the U.K. at the time.
On his return, Mr. Narvekar had said he would not bow to any pressure from any party while making it clear he would neither hurry nor inordinately delay the process.
“All decisions will be taken based on law, constitutional principles and respecting the guidelines laid down in the SC’s judgment. A number of procedural aspects have to be completed. As to what constitutes a ‘reasonable time period’, we have to take a retrospective decision in this case. So, I cannot say what a reasonable time period is. It could be 15 days, it could be more than that,” Mr. Narvekar had said, when asked about the demands of the Thackeray group.