Shiv Sena (Balasaheb) legislators, in whose favour the decision has come, call it “good in law” whereas those from Uddhav Thackeray faction call it biased.
In Nagpur district, Ramtek is the constituency where Shiv Sena has done well electorally while it has negligible presence elsewhere in the district.
Ramtek MP Krupal Tumane, who joined CM Eknath Shinde faction said Wednesday’s decision “favoured the truth”. Tumane said, “Speaker Narwekar is himself an expert in legal issues. He has taken into consideration all the facts and then collated it with the law of the land, before giving his decision. We were always confident about this because we are on the side of truth.”
MLA Ashish Jaiswal (Ramtek constituency), had won the 2019 polls as an independent but pledged his support with the then united Shiv Sena. Later he too joined Shinde faction, something which he says has now been “proven” as the right decision.
Jaiswal said, “Uddhav had turned the erstwhile united Shiv Sena into a private limited company. They were running the party as they deemed fit and never updated changes in their constitution to the Election Commission Of India. Today, the speaker has pointed out all these mistakes and the decision is a landmark one, which will be talked about for years to come.”
Former Lok Sabha MP from united Shiv Sena Prakash Jadhav is currently holding fort for Uddhav faction in the district and says today’s decision is “humiliation of democracy”. Responding to Jaiswal’s allegation of Uddhav running the party like a private company, Jadhav said, “If that had been the case then neither Jaiswal nor Tumane would have got tickets and won. Today’s decision is a slap on the face of democracy and it’s a shame that legislators who defected from their parent party got shielded. Regardless, the public will give a befitting reply to all of them.”
Jadhav said that it was surprising that all Shinde-faction leaders and their legal counsels are questioning the party constitution and finding fault with it. “It was the same party constitution which gave them political status they are enjoying today. For decades they enjoyed all the benefits in the party because of the same constitution, but suddenly they are coming up with issues on the constitution,” said Jadhav.
Even Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders lent their support to Uddhav faction, with Congress state president Nana Patole said, “Narwekar’s judgement is unconstitutional and it’s an undemocratic judgement and it was against party rules.”