Shinde camp chief whip writes to Speaker, seeks disqualification of 16 Uddhav Camp MLAs

Shinde camp chief whip Bharat Gogawale has submitted a fresh application before Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar seeking the disqualification of 16 MLAs of the Uddhav Thackeray camp. In the application, Gogawale has asserted that they are the 'original Shiv Sena' and as the whip, has sought the disqualification of the Thackeray camp.

The development comes a day after BJP's Rahul Narwekar was elected as the Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly on July 3 in a big boost for the Eknath Shinde government. While he polled 164 votes, only 107 MLAs voted in favour of MVA's candidate and Shiv Sena MLA Rajan Salvi.

Later in the day, ending weeks-long of drama, Narwekar reinstated the Maharashtra CM as the Sena's Legislative Party leader and approved the appointment of Bharat Gogawale as the party chief whip in the place of Sunil Prabhu. In the backdrop of the Legislative Council elections, as the MLAs of Shiv Sena went incommunicado, one of the first steps taken by Uddhav Thackeray was to change the Leader of the Maharashtra Shiv Sena Legislative Party, which had further triggered the rebellion.

Uddhav camp also seeks disqualification of rebels

On the other hand, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant - part of the Uddhav Thackeray camp, has stated that they too have sought the disqualification of the 39 rebel MLAs from the assembly. "39 of our MLAs did not obey our whip and didn't follow party order, so we have sought their disqualification from new Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has chosen Ajay Choudhari as the leader of the group," he told reporters. 

The 4-day-old Shinde camp-BJP government is going to face the crucial floor test today. A late-night meeting was held on July 3 where Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis addressed all BJP and Shiv Sena MLAs in Mumbai. Senior leaders such as state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Pravin Darekar, Deepak Kesarkar and Bharat Gogawale were present on the occasion. 

Meanwhile, Thackeray camp's Sunil Prabhu has issued a whip to all Shiv Sena MLAs to remain present for the Assembly session and vote against the government today.