Replying to Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant who sought disqualification of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs for not following the party’s order, Union Minister and BJP leader Raosaheb Patil Danve said ‘Speaker will decide it.’

Raosaheb Danve Patil said, “It will be decided by the Speaker. If both the parties will go to the court, then the court will take further decision on it.” Rahul Narvekar of the BJP was elected Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Sunday.

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Arvind Sawant demanded rebel MLAs’ disqualification along with the new Assembly Speaker, Rahul Narvekar. Arvind Sawant had said, “39 of our MLAs did not follow our whip and did not follow the order of the party, so we have demanded their disqualification from the new Assembly Speaker, Rahul Narvekar.”

Shiv Sena has chosen Ajay Chaudhary as the Shiv Sena’s legislative leader in the House in place of rebel MLA Eknath Shinde.

Narvekar, who polled 164 votes, defeated Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi, who got 107 votes.

Further speaking on the new alliance government in Maharashtra, Raosaheb Patil Danve said, “As of today, our government in Maharashtra is stable. We have an alliance with Shiv Sena. Eknath Shinde is our leader and our government will run for the next three years. Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde will run the government together. The dissatisfaction between Shiv Sena leader and BJP will no longer be there.”

Meanwhile, the Uddhav Thackeray-led camp of Shiv Sena on Monday approached the Supreme Court challenging the newly appointed Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s recognition of the whip of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde group as the whip of Shiv Sena.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Thackeray camp, told a bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheswari that the newly appointed Speaker has no jurisdiction to recognize the whip nominated by Shinde as Uddhav Thackeray is still the head of Shiv Sena’s official party.

The action is changing the status quo of proceedings before the apex court, he added.

“The Speaker has no jurisdiction to recognize whips. This is changing the status quo of proceedings before this court. The Speaker yesterday at the stroke of midnight elected the whip,” Singhvi while mentioning the matter for urgent hearing.

The apex court posted the matter for hearing on July 11, along with other pending pleas.