Mumbai: The Maharashtra legislature secretary has issued show cause notices to 53 of the total 55 Shiv Sena MLAs in the state – 39 from the Eknath Shinde-led faction and 14 from the Uddhav Thackeray group. One of the 14 MLAs from the Thackeray side, Santosh Bangar, joined the Shinde camp on July 4, the day of the latter’s government’s floor test. Legislators from both the sides confirmed receiving the showcase notice.
Both sides have accused each other of defying the party whip during the speaker’s election and defying the trust vote on July 3 and 4 respectively, demanding disqualification of legislators from both sides.
The Shinde faction has not included the name of former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya Thackeray in the list of MLAs against whom they have sought disqualification.
The notices have been issued under the Members of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on grounds of defection) Rules.
Sources said the MLAs have been asked to explain their stand within seven days.
Shiv Sena has 55 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly, taking the current strength to 287 due to the death of one Shiv Sena MLA.
In the trust vote, 164 MLAs voted for the confidence motion, while 99 voted against it.
After winning the trust vote in the state assembly on July 4, Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde faction had issued notices to 14 MLAs of the Uddhav Thackeray camp for violating the whip issued by Shiv Sena whip and Shinde loyalist Bharat Gogawale.
A day before the floor test, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar recognized Gogawale as the chief whip of the Shiv Sena, replacing Sunil Prabhu of the Thackeray faction.
On July 3, Rahul Narvekar of the BJP was elected the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He got 164 votes and defeated Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi, who got 107 votes.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Zee News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)