Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday termed Speaker Rahul Narwekar’s decision to recognise his faction as the real Shiv Sena a “victory of truth”.
In June 2022, Shinde and several Shiv Sena MLAs rebelled against then Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, leading to a split in the party founded by late Balasaheb Thackeray.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction had challenged the Election Commission’s decision to grant Shinde faction the Bow and Arrow symbol of the Shiv Sena political party and sought disqualification of 14 MLAs for violating the whip.
The matter reached the Supreme Court, which directed the Maharashtra Speaker to decide to disqualification plea filed by the Thackeray faction.
Announcing his decision, the Speaker rejected the disqualification plea and said that Thackeray had no power to remove Shinde as the legislative party leader. He also said that Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena at the time of the split and cited the party’s 1999 constitution as the basis of his decision.
Reacting to the decision, Shinde said, “It is ‘Satyamev Jayate’. Truth has won…This result has been given on merit. Majority is very important in democracy and hence the decision given by the Speaker today is the victory of democracy.”
Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray termed the decision illegal and accused the Speaker of “killing the democracy” by his judgement.
“The Speaker’s order that has come today is a murder of democracy and is also an insult to the decision of the Supreme Court,” Thackeray said, adding that they will fight “this battle further” and hoped for a “justice” from the Supreme Court.
The Thackeray faction said that they will contest the Speaker’s decision in the Supreme Court.