Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) is all geared up for the hearing on the disqualification petition scheduled to begin on Thursday. The party has appointed Adv Devdutt Kamat and Adv Aseem Sarode to plead on their behalf and has asked all its members to be present at the Vidhan Bhavan by 12 noon.
Mumbai MLA Sunil Prabhu, who is the chief whip of the party, has asked all the MLAs and MLCs of the party to be present at the central hall of the assembly. While 7 MLAs have till date replied to the notices through their respective counsels, the rest are expected to orally submit their replies starting tomorrow. The party has also devised a policy to keep all the replies congruent to the party line.
All MLAs meeting to be held at the office of LoP Ambadas Danve
"A meeting of all the MLAs will be held at the office of leader of opposition Ambadas Danve at 11 am and then we shall all proceed for the hearing," Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Vaibha Naik said.
According to the Supreme Court verdict on May 11, the Speaker of the assembly will have to decide on which is the real party and who is the whip, before give his ruling on the disqualification of the MLAs, Naik said. The Shiv Sena (UBT) MLAs had submitted their statements to the office of the Speaker on June 23, he added.
Adv. Kamat and Adv. Sarode will plead before the Speaker and the MLAs shall speak only if the Speaker asks any specific questions to them, said party sources. Meanwhile, the independent MLAs who had switched sides along with Shiv Sena members too have been served notices and they are upset about it.
MLA Narendra Bondekar, Bachchu Kadu and Rajendra Yadravkar have been served notice after the Shiv Sena (UBT) complained about them of switching sides.
"This is unfortunate," said former minister Yedravkar. "We had extended all cooperation and lent our support. Yet we are now being threatened by the Shiv Sena (UBT)," he added while making it clear that he will be submitting his reply through his counsel.
He also expressed dismay as to how complaints can be filed against independent MLAs.
'Shinde camp MLA's will be disqualified'
Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Ajay Chaudhari expressed confidence that the MLAs from Shinde camp of the party will be disqualified. "We shall keep an eye on whether the procedures are followed strictly and shall approach the Supreme Court again if the procedure is not followed," he added.
