Ready to be disqualified than obey Shinde’s whip, say Sena (UBT) MLAs

Narwekar had on Wednesday, while pronouncing the verdict on disqualification petitions filed by rival Sena factions, recognised the Shinde-led Sena as the real party. He later clarified that the 16 Sena (UBT) MLAs would have to follow the whip issued by Bharat Gogawale from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, including while speaking in the assembly, voting on bills introduced by the government and attending meetings of the party’s legislative unit

Mumbai: Though Maharashtra speaker Rahul Narwekar has made it clear that Shiv Sena (UBT)’s 16 MLAs including Aaditya Thackeray will have to follow the whip issued by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on the floor of the assembly, legislators from the UBT faction said they would rather face disqualification than obey the Shinde faction’s whip. They also alleged that Narwekar’s verdict was an indirect threat meant to compel them to join the Shinde-led Sena.

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Narwekar had on Wednesday, while pronouncing the verdict on disqualification petitions filed by rival Sena factions, recognised the Shinde-led Sena as the real party. He later clarified that the 16 Sena (UBT) MLAs would have to follow the whip issued by Bharat Gogawale from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, including while speaking in the assembly, voting on bills introduced by the government and attending meetings of the party’s legislative unit.

“Every member of a legislative party will have to follow the whip issued by the party. There is only one Shiv Sena party recognised on the floor of the assembly. So whoever is a member of the Shiv Sena legislative party will have to follow its whip,” Narwekar told HT on Thursday.

Reacting to Narwekar’s statement, Sunil Prabhu, chief whip of the Thackeray faction, said, “Whip is applicable during the session of the state legislature and as of now, the assembly is not in session. The party will take legal opinion on Narwekar’s claim,” said Prabhu.

Ajay Choudhari, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s group leader in the assembly said, “We fight – we do not surrender or run away. So, even if the Shinde faction issues a whip to us and initiates disqualification proceedings, we will not follow their order and will only listen to Uddhav Thackeray. I am ready to lose my post of MLA but will not leave Thackeray,” he said.

“First of all, Narwekar’s order is not final – the SC will give a final verdict and justice to us. We will only listen to Thackeray and will not obey the whip of Bharat Gogawale. Let them do anything they want,” said MLA Ravindra Waikar.

Another Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Bhasker Jadhav echoed Waikar. “Narwekar might be making such statements to threaten us and get us disqualified if we do not join the Eknath Shinde faction,” he said.

The Eknath Shinde faction had demanded the disqualification of 14 out of Shiv Sena (UBT)’s 16 MLAs – they did not seek disqualification of Aaditya Thackeray since he is the grandson of party founder Bal Thackeray while Andheri East MLA Rutuja Latke was elected in a by-election held after the split. But Narwekar, who chose not to disqualify the Thackeray faction ‘s 14 MLAs in his verdict, backed his decision. “When you are adjudicating a disqualification petition, you have to see that the whip was issued by an appropriate person and if it was served to the MLAs. There was no evidence from the Shinde faction to show that the whip was issued on Thackeray faction MLAs. Therefore, it was not possible for me to disqualify them,” he said.