Lok Sabha MP Sunil Tatkare welcomed the Supreme Court’s directive to the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to decide by January 31, 2024 the National Congress Party’s petition seeking disqualification of nine MLAs of the Ajit Pawar faction. Tatkare, a member of the faction led by the deputy chief minister, stated that his party has always believed its case was different from the rebellion in the Shiv Sena, which took place in June last year.
The top court, during the day, also asked Narwekar to decide the cross-petitions filed by the rival factions of the Shiv Sena seeking disqualification of each other’s MLAs by December 31. Tatkare said, We are satisfied with the decision of the Supreme Court to treat the petitions filed against us separately. We have consistently maintained our case is different from that of the Shiv Sena. He claimed the decision taken under the leadership of Ajit Pawar was based on some of the previous decisions of the Election Commission of India and the apex court.
Tatkare also said it was the speaker’s right to decide on the way the petitions have to be treated as the number of petitions filed before the speaker are in large numbers.