Stressing that the SC verdict is in favour of his party and that the whip appointed by him will have the final say, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said that the SC verdict has left the Speaker with no alternative but to pronounce the parrot dead.
While addressing press conference on Friday morning, Thackeray warned the Speaker of Maharashtra Assembly, Rahul Narvekar, against taking a ‘wrong decision’ and said that his party would approach the courts again like they have done in the case of the Election Commission of India’s decision granting the party name and the symbol to the Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde faction.
"The relief to the present government is interim"
Thackeray said, “The relief to the present government is interim. We hope that the Speaker, who is currently in London, decides on the issue (of disqualification of 16 MLAs) at the earliest. If he makes any wrong decision, we will go to court again.”
Commenting on the Supreme Court’s decision that the Speaker should decide on the disqualification, he said, “It is like the court was saying that the parrot in front of them is not moving, not opening its eyes… and entrusted the Speaker to announce that the parrot is dead.”
Uddhav slams Narvekar
Taking pot-shots at Narvekar for changing parties, Thackeray also said that he was part of their party before switching sides to the NCP and then the BJP. “He has a vast experience of defection and how to do it within the legislative framework,” Thackeray said.
“I also want to call out Narendra Modi. We might have political differences but this kind of ‘nanga naach’ needs to stop so that democracy is not disgraced,” he added.
Thackeray also said that the image of Maharashtra is getting tarnished due to this political drama and appealed to all parties to face the elections. “We should stop Maharashtra’s image from getting tarnished. Now that the Supreme Court has said in as many words that the government is illegitimate, I appeal to them to resign like me on moral grounds and let us all again take the case to the court of the people. Let us all face the elections,” he said.
