Mumbai: Day after winning the trust vote in the assembly, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has sought suspension of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs belonging to the Uddhav Thackeray's camp for “violation of whip”. Bharat Gogavale, the spokesperson of the Shinde group, lodged a complaint with the Speaker of the Assembly Rahul Narvekar seeking action against 16 MLAs from the Thackeray faction for breaking the whip.
However, Aditya Thackeray's name has been omitted in the letter. Speaking to ANI, Bharat Gogavale said that he has dropped the name of Aditya Thackeray “out of respect and consideration for Balasaheb Thackeray”. The development comes after the Shinde faction issued a counter whip to the Sena MLAs to vote for BJP speaker candidate Rahul Narvekar.
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Shiv Sena representative of the Uddhav faction, Sunil Prabhu had issued a whip to its MLAs, including the rebel leaders and Eknath Shinde, to vote for MVA's speaker candidate Rajan Salvi. However, the Shinde group did not follow the Shiv Sena's whip and voted for BJP candidate Narvekar. Narvekar won with 164 votes defeating Rajavan Salvi of Maha Vikas Aghadi, who secured 107 votes.
The Speaker of Maharashtra assembly confirmed that 16 MLAs will be issued notice for suspension. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday won the crucial floor test in the Assembly on the last day of the two-day special session of the House. In the 288-member House, 164 MLAs voted for the motion of confidence, while 99 voted against it. Three legislators abstained from voting, while 21 legislators, including Congress's Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar, abstained. Shinde hailed the victory of his faction in the floor test of the Maharashtra Assembly.
