E-Paper
Speaker Birla gives Sena's Lok Sabha leader status to Shinde loyalist Rahul Shewale
In a late-night statement to the media, a senior official from the speaker's office said Birla took this decision based on two factors. First, he looked at petitions by various MPs and saw if they had majority. He also went by legal precedent.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday decided to give the Shiv Sena's floor leader status to MP Rahul Shewale of the Eknath Shinde camp.
In a late-night statement to the media, a senior official from the speaker's office said Birla took this decision based on two factors. First, he looked at petitions by various MPs and saw if they had majority. He also went by legal precedent -- in the Chirag Paswan case with his uncle for party's leadership, the Delhi high court had taken a similar stand.
According to an ANI reports, Bhavana Gawali, who had earlier been replaced by the Uddhav Thackeray camp as the party's chief whip, retained her official status in the Lower House of Parliament.
Also read | Sena MP denies reports Uddhav Thackeray wanted to renew ties with BJP
The Thackeray camp had nominated Rajan Vichare as the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha in place of Gawali on July 6. Gawali, an MP from the Yavatmal-Washim LS constituency in eastern Maharashtra, had earlier suggest that the Sena ally with the BJP again amid the political crisis last motnhrebellion led by Shinde.
Hours ago, Shinde, who took over as the Maharashtra chief minister last month after engineering a rebellion in the party, said the rebel MPs' plea to the Lok Sabha Speaker to recognise Shewale as the Sena's floor leader in the Lower House of Parliament had been addressed.
Twelve Lok Sabha members of the Shiv Sena had met Birla with the request to replace Vinayak Raut, a loyalist of Uddhav Thackeray, as the floor leader.
