"Nothing but a drama": Nationalist Congress Party on Shinde Sena approaching Bombay High Court against Speaker's order on Sena (UBT) MLAs

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The Nationalist Congress Party Monday said the decision of the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) to approach Bombay High Court against Speaker Rahul Narwekar's decision to not disqualify MLAs of the Uddhav Thackeray group was "nothing but a drama".

The Shiv Sena under Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on January 12 moved the Bombay High Court challenging the "legality, propriety and correctness" of the January 10 order passed by Narwekar dismissing the disqualification petitions submitted against MLAs owning allegiance to Shiv Sena (UBT).

In his petition, Bharat Gogavale, the chief whip of the ruling Shiv Sena, urged the Bombay High Court to declare the Speaker's order as "bad in law", quash it and disqualify all the 14 MLAs of the Shiv Sena (UBT).

"They (Shinde faction) know this judgment by the Speaker is against the ruling of the Supreme Court and it will not stand there," Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said.

The Shinde group going to court endorses the doubts and questions raised by the opposition on the judgment and decision of the Speaker, Crasto added.

Narwekar, while pronouncing his order on January 10 in the Shiv Sena disqualification case, had rejected the Thackeray faction's plea to disqualify 16 MLAs of the ruling camp, including Shinde.

The Speaker also chose not to disqualify the 14 MLAs of the Thackeray group as demanded by the Shinde faction.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar while referring to the recent disqualification pleas verdict said that a party can't have 2 whips and the Uddhav Thackeray camp MLAs have to follow whip issued by Bharat Gogavale, reported the PTI on Friday.

Rahul Narwekar said that there is only one Shiv Sena legislative party in the state legislature and its MLAs will have to adhere to the whip issued by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led camp's whip Bharat Gogavale, recognised by him.

Speaking to a news channel, Rahul Narwekar said he has diligently followed the Supreme Court's guidelines while giving his judgment on the cross-petitions by Sena factions seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs following a split in the party in 2022, and his decision is tenable. (With inputs from PTI)