12 rebel Shiv Sena MPs meet LS speaker Om Birla, demand change of floor leader

MPs from the rival Shiv Sena faction met speaker Om Birla on Tuesday, the day after Vinayak Raut gave a letter to the speaker, asking him not to entertain any representation from the Eknath Shinde group.

New Delhi: Twelve Lok Sabha members of the rival Shiv Sena faction, including Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's son Shrikant Shinde, met Speaker Om Birla in New Delhi on Tuesday. The Chief Minister requested Om Birla to change the party's floor leader in the Lower House of Parliament.

The rebel Shiv Sena MPs met Birla a day after the party's floor leader, Vinayak Raut, gave a letter to the speaker, asking him not to entertain any representation from the rival faction. "Twelve Lok Sabha members of the Shiv Sena met Speaker Om Birla and requested him to appoint Rahul Shewale in place of Vinayak Raut as the party's floor leader," said Hemant Godse, one of the 12 MPs of the Shinde faction who met Birla.

Raut, in his letter submitted to the speaker on Monday night, had made it clear that he was the "duly appointed" leader of the Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party and Rajan Vichare was the chief whip. Eknath Shinde said that twelve MPs of Shiv Sena have given a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker on Tuesday.