Battle erupts between Uddhav & Shinde factions over Shiv Sena leadership in Lok Sabha

Hours after Eknath Shinde's meeting with Shiv Sena MPs, Republic learnt that Rahul Shewale will replace Vinayak Raut as the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha. Sources told the channel that a letter in this regard will be sent to Om Birla, the Speaker of the Lower House of the Parliament, on Tuesday.

However, Vinayak Raut has already sent a letter to Birla, in which he has claimed that he is the duly appointed leader of the Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha. In the letter, he also claimed that Rajan Vichare is the Chief Whip of the party in the Lower House of the Parliament. Vichare was nominated as the chief whip, replacing MP Bhavana Gawali, who was one of the Sena MPs to suggest that the party will ally with the BJP again amid the rebellion led by Shinde. 

'Do not acknowledge or entertain representation made by any other MP'

"You are, therefore, called upon not to acknowledge or entertain representation made by any other MP(s) or acknowledge or entertain any direction/whip issued by anybody else, falsely claiming to be the leader or the chief whip of the Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party. You are further requested to immediately notify me of any such representation made, if at all, by any MPs belonging to our party, so that I can respond to the same and take necessary action," read the letter. 

MPs Vinayak Raut, Arvind Sawant, Gajanan Kiritkar, Sanjay Jadhav, Om Rane Nimbalkar, and Rajan Vichare did not attend the virtual meeting called by Shinde while the rest 12 MPs from Maharashtra attended. The Shiv Sena has 19 MPs in Lok Sabha, including 18 from Maharashtra.