Even as Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Friday said that the next hearing on the disqualification petitions filed by both the rival Shiv Sena factions led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray was slated for early next week, the Thackeray faction accused Mr. Narwekar of dragging his feet on the issue in a bid to save Mr. Shinde’s chair.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court had rebuked Mr. Narwekar for delaying the adjudication, while directing him to announce within a week the date for the ruling on the disqualification petitions filed by the Sena factions. The SC had observed that nothing had been done thus far despite the SC’s direction to the Maharashtra Speaker to decide the pleas within a reasonable time.
Mr. Narwekar, who had visited Delhi on Thursday, said in Mumbai on Friday that his Delhi visit had been pre-planned.
