Never Seen a More Shameless Verdict: Aaditya Thackeray on Maharashtra Speaker’s Big Verdict

The decision of Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwkar, declaring the faction of the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the real party came as a big jolt to Uddhav Thackeray faction.  This declaration prompted swift reactions from top Shiv Sena UBT  leader Aaditya Thackeray. He said that the party will challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court. Thackeray said that the judgement was unacceptable and the party would challenge it in the Apex Court. In a lengthy post on X, Thackeray called it a shameless verdict. He wrote, "Never seen a more shameless verdict of the tribunal that has murdered democracy. It is evident that the regime of gaddars are against the constitution given to us by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. They want to re write the constitution to finish democracy. Today the verdict has officially killed democracy in our state and the principals and pillars of the constitution. 

Continuing further he wrote, We will fight to restore democracy and to protect the nation’s Constitution given to us by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. This verdict wasn’t only about Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray. This is about our country’s constitution and democracy. We hope the Hon’ble Supreme Court will ensure that there will be protection for the Constitution and Democracy, against this disgraceful political fixed game. Maharashtra Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar, while announcing his verdict on disqualification matter, said the faction led by now CM Eknath Shinde was the real Shiv Sena at the time the rival factions emerged. He also rejected the disqualification pleas against Shinde Sena MLAs. Pronouncing his order, Speaker Rahul Narwekar said that the 1999 constitution of Shiv Sena has to be taken into consideration as the amended 2018 constitution was not placed before the Election Commission. The 1999 constitution of Shiv Sena removed the concentration of power from the hands of the party chief. However, the amended constitution in 2018 put the power back into the hands of the party chief.Based on this, the Speaker said that Uddhav Thackrey, being the Shiv Sena pramukh (president), did not have the power to remove Eknath Shinde as the leader of the legislative party. 

The Uddhav Thackeray faction had sought disqualification of Shinde faction MLAs on grounds that they did not attend the legislature party called by then chief whip Sunil Prabhu on June 21. However, the Shinde camp had passed a resolution appointing Bharatshet Gogawale as the chief whip. On this, the Speaker said that Sunil Prabhu had no authority to call the legislature party meeting and the Uddhav faction's submission that the rival MLAs did not come for the meeting will have to be rejected. The verdict comes 18 months after Eknath Shinde, along with over 40 Shiv Sena MLAs, rebelled against then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, which included the Nationalist Congress Party NCP and the Congress as well. Eknath Shinde then joined hands with the BJP and became the new Chief Minister, with Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.