The Shiv Sena, under the leadership of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, has issued a notice to four Lok Sabha MPs from the rival Sena faction. The notice alleges that these MPs defied the party's whip by being absent during the discussion and voting on the women's reservation bill last week.
Although the Shiv Sena split following Shinde’s rebellion last year, the four MPs owing allegiance to Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray are technically still its members in the Lower House of Parliament. In a notice to Vinayak Raut, Rajan Vichare, Omraje Nimbalkar and Sanjay Jadhav, Shiv Sena’s leader of the legislative party Rahul Shewale said the four MPs defied the party whip despite a directive to vote in favour of the bill Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023.
The whip was issued by the party on September 14 to its MPs to remain present in the House during the special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22. Your absence from Parliament during the special session itself shows your seriousness in matters pertaining to national interest, said the notice issued on Tuesday.
The Rajya Sabha cleared the landmark bill last week to reserve a third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women. The bill was approved in the Lok Sabha before that. Earlier, when Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut was asked about the possibility of Shinde’s side issuing a “whip (notice)” to the four MPs for not attending the discussion and voting on the bill, the Rajya Sabha member said, “It is a trivial matter for us that they would issue a whip (notice) against four of our Lok Sabha members.