Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, in his first attack post the Election Commission’s order on the Shiv Sena name and symbol in his favour, has written to Deputy Speaker of Maharashtra State Legislative Council Neelam Gorhe to change the party whip.
The letter written by Shinde says that in a recent meeting of the Shiv Sena legislature party, MLC Viplov Gopikishan Bajoria was elected as the party whip in the State Legislative Council of the State Assembly. Currently, there are 11 Shiv Sena MLCs in the Council, while 10 other MLCs are supporting the Uddhav Thackeray faction. This move is being seen as part of Shinde’s strategy to assert his authority over Shiv Sena party by controlling it in the Legislative Council.
By asking to appoint Bajoria as the whip, Shinde wants to send a clear message to Uddhav Thackeray and his camp that he has a strong hold not only in the lower house, but also in the upper house.
Once the whip is appointed all Shiv Sena MLCs, including the Thackeray camp, will have to follow it.
But Thackeray camp is of the opinion that Shinde’s whip is not mandatory for them, as they are not part of the Shiv Sena Legislative party after being identified as a separate group by the ECI and have got protection from the Supreme Court for two weeks.
While speaking to the media at Vidhan Bhavan, Shiv Sena leader and whip in the lower house Bharat Gogawale said, “We have sent a formal letter to Neelam Gorhe to appoint a new whip for our party. We have already said that we will issue the whip as it is a process, but will wait for any action as per the Supreme Court’s direction."
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