Shinde camp meets, speaker Narwekar removes Sena MLA Ajay Chaudhary as legislative party leader ahead of floor test

A letter issued by Rahul Narvekar's office reinstated Eknath Shinde as the Shiv Sena's legislative party leader and recognised the appointment of Bharat Gogawale from the Shinde camp as the chief whip of the Sena, removing Sunil Prabhu, who belongs to the Uddhav Thackeray faction.

Newly appointed Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde held a meeting with his team and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis along with other BJP MLAs at a hotel in Mumbai hours ahead of the floor test scheduled to be held on Monday.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde shows victory sign as he arrives to attend the special session of the Assembly in Mumbai on Sunday.  (ANI)

In a late-night development, newly appointed speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly Rahul Narwekar night removed Shiv Sena MLA Ajay Chaudhary as the legislative party leader. A letter issued by the office of Narvekar's office reinstated Shinde as the Shiv Sena's legislative party leader and recognised the appointment of Bharat Gogawale from the Shinde camp as the chief whip of the Sena, removing Sunil Prabhu, who belongs to the Uddhav Thackeray faction.

The development comes as a major blow to the Thackeray faction comprising 16 MLAs who will be bound by the whip to be issued by Gogawale for Monday's trust vote. If these 16 MLAs refuse to follow the whip, they may face disqualification.

Earlier in the day, Narwekar was elected as the speaker of the House with 164 votes in his favour, defeating Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi, who got 107 votes. With this, Narvekar (45) became the youngest-ever Assembly speaker in the country, Fadnavis said.

A two-day special session of the 288-member House session of the Legislative Assembly began at the Vidhan Bhavan in south Mumbai at 11am on Sunday.

The Assembly witnessed a row over whip between the two factions of the Shiv Sena on the Speaker's election. Earlier, both Thackeray's Sena and the Eknath Shinde-led faction had issued different whips directing the MLAs to vote for their respective nominees.

NCP legislator Narhari Zirwal who could not vote as he is the deputy speaker said, “Some Shiv Sena MLAs voted against the party whip. Its recording should be verified and necessary action should be taken against them.”

NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who was said to be the chief architect of the previous MVA government, said mid-term polls are likely in Maharashtra as the government led by rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde may fall in the next six months. A PTI report said he made the statement while addressing NCP legislators and other leaders of the party here in the evening. "The newly-formed government in Maharashtra may fall in the next six months, hence all should be ready for mid-term polls," an NCP leader, who attended the meeting, quoted Pawar as saying.

On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the plea of Shiv Sena chief whip Sunil Prabhu seeking suspension of Shinde and 15 rebel MLAs from the Assembly against whom disqualification pleas are pending, saying it was "fully conscious" of the issue on July 11.

Meanwhile, Shinde, while making his first address on the Floor of the House on Sunday, said the decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah to let him lead the government despite having more members than his side has "opened the eyes of many". He also said that after the collapse of the MVA government in the state, a "BJP-Shiv Sena government" has taken charge which is based on the beliefs of the party founder Balasaheb Thackeray.

Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday following the collapse of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government, while Fadnavis took oath as Shinde's deputy. Around 40 Sena MLAs led by Shinde rebelled against the party leadership, which eventually resulted in the collapse of the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government on Wednesday.

(With agency inputs)