Eknath Shinde-led faction was real Shiv Sena political party when rival factions emerged in 2022, the Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar said on Wednesday. Pics/Sameer Abedi
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday said numbers are important in democracy, and the Shiv Sena led by him has the numbers as against the rival faction led by Uddhav Thackeray
Reacting to the Maharashtra assembly Speaker's ruling which said his faction was the real Shiv Sena, Shinde also said that the party chief's individual opinion cannot be the opinion of the entire party
Even the Election Commission of India allotted the name and symbol of the Shiv Sena to his party, he noted
Reading out his ruling on disqualification petitions filed by Shinde-led Sena and the rival group led by Thackeray against each other's MLAs, Speaker Rahul Narwekar held that when the split in the party became evident, it was the Shinde-led group that was the real Sena
The Speaker rejected all the petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs. "No MLA is being disqualified," he said
As the tenor of the ruling became clear, celebrations broke out among followers of Chief Minister Shinde's faction
The speaker also held that the Shiv Sena 'pramukh' (chief) did not have the power to remove any leader from the party. He also did not accept the argument that the will of the party chief and the will of the party were synonymous
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