As Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar delivered a crucial verdict on January 10 on the cross-petitions filed by the rival Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of each other’s MLAs, swift reactions ensued from leaders of various political parties.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar said the verdict favouring Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Sena faction was “not surprising” but urged the rival group led by Uddhav Thackeray to challenge it in the Supreme Court.
In a significant relief to Mr. Shinde, Mr. Narwekar declared his faction as the “real Shiv Sena” when rival groups emerged in June 2022. He said that Mr. Thackeray lacked the authority to remove Mr. Shinde from the post of the Legislature Party leader as the party constitution made the ‘Rashtriya Karyakarini’ (national executive) the supreme body.
