Mumbai: Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar avoided a possible controversy and allotted seats in the Opposition bloc to Aaditya Thackeray and 14 other MLAs from the Shiv Sena (UBT).
Meanwhile, after losing party office to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the Uddhav Thackeray camp has decided to use Legislative Council Leader of Opposition Ambadas Danave’s cabin in Vidhan Bhavan.
As the Shiv Sena is a single party in the legislative records, it was expected that Thackeray’s MLAs would be shifted close to other party MLAs. The Shinde-led Shiv Sena occupies the treasury benches. This could have become an embarrassment for Aaditya Thackeray, who now has front row seat with Sena UBT leader Ajay Choudhari, just beside Dilip Walse Patil and Ashok Chavan from the Congress. Behind Aaditya are Ravindra Waikar and Bhaskar Jadhao from the Uddhav camp.
The Shiv Sena party office on the third floor of Vidhan Bhavan is with the CM after the Election Commission’s order on the party and its symbol. Choudhari said, “They can take the party symbol, its name and offices but they can’t take the people’s support from Thackeray. The upcoming local body and all other elections will prove this.”
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