Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday challenged Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar for a public debate on which faction is the real Shiv Sena.
Thackeray’s challenge comes a day after he moved the Supreme Court against Narwekar’s decision of declaring Shinde’s faction as the real Shiv Sena.
“I trust and respect the Supreme Court but I am now taking this battle to the people’s court,” Thackeray said.
“ Some people say I should not have resigned. I didn’t want to stay. We know what happened after that. Governor had called an unconstitutional session. He was part of the conspiracy. This battle is now to decide whether there will be democracy in the country,” Thackeray said at a briefing in Mumbai.
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On January 10, Narwekar ruled that the Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena and Thackeray had no power to remove Shinde as the legislature party leader, as per the party’s constitution.
“If I was not chief of Shiv Sena, why did the BJP take my signature for support in 2014 and 2019 after the Lok sabha elections?” the former chief minister asked.
“BJP chief Nadda once said only one party will remain in the country. After that attempts were made to finish Shiv Sena and later NCP,” Thackeray added, referring to the vertical split in Sharad Pawar’s NCP last year, resulting in Ajit Pawar joining the Shinde government as deputy chief minister.
‘Efforts to spread misinformation about verdict’
Maharashtra speaker Narwekar reacted to Thackeray’s remark, alleging efforts to spread misinformation about his verdict.
“Efforts being made to spread misunderstanding about the verdict I have given. They have passed remarks against Supreme Court, Speaker, Governor and Election Commission. It seems they (Shiv Sena-UBT) don’t trust any institution,” Narwekar said.
The power struggle within the Shiv Sena erupted in 2022 when Shinde with support of 50 MLAs had rebelled against then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. He went to Assam with his supporters and later staked a claim to form government with the help of BJP.
The Supreme Court had ordered a floor test after the Maha Vikas Aghadi government was reduced to a minority following the rebellion. But Thackeray resigned before facing the floor test. Shinde became the chief minister and won the floor test.
In February last year, the Election Commission gave the bow and arrow symbol to the Shinde faction.
(With bureau inputs)