Mumbai: Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Tuesday said he won’t succumb to any pressure tactics and would take the decision regarding disqualification of MLAs as directed by the Supreme Court only on merits.
“I’ve never taken any decision under pressure and won’t ever succumb to any pressure. Those who feel they would achieve the results they wish by criticising and targetting me are committing a biggest mistake, ” Narwekar said while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday.
Narwekar said the decision on disqualification of 16 MLAs including CM Shinde will start from the point of which faction was representing the actual Shiv Sena in July 2022.
The Election Commission’s decision to allot the ‘Shiv Sena’ name and its symbol to the faction led by Shinde is a “prospective” decision and not retrospective.
In its verdict on the Shiv Sena-centric tussle that led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra last year, the Supreme Court had refused to disqualify the 16 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, including Chief Minister Shinde, and said it cannot ordinarily adjudicate disqualification petitions under the anti-defection law and directed Speaker Narwekar to take a decision on the pending matter within a “reasonable period”.
Background of 16 MLAs quitting
In June 2022, 16 Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde expressed dissatisfaction with the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray, the then Chief Minister of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance government in Maharashtra.
The rebel MLAs skipped a meeting of the legislature party, and disqualification proceedings were initiated against them by the chief whip of the party nominated by Uddhav Thackeray. In response, the rebel MLAs sent a letter to initiate a motion of no confidence against the deputy Speaker, who rejected the plea.
The rebels then approached the Supreme Court against the disqualification proceedings, where a three-judge bench granted an extension of time to the rebels to respond to the notices.
Meanwhile, the Shinde camp MLAs left Maharashtra and approached the Governor with allegations of grave threat to life and property. The Governor asked Uddhav Thackeray to call a trust vote, but the CM resigned just before the trust vote and moved the Supreme Court questioning the Governor's action.
This ultimately led to the change in power in the Maharashtra govt forging an alliance with the BJP as Eknath Shinde was made the CM of the state while the rebel MLAs under Shinde's leadership also identified themselves as Shiv Sena. BJP's Devendra Fadnavis was appointed the Dy CM of the state.
