12 of 19 Shiv Sena MPs rebel against Thackeray, write to LS Speaker to make Rahul Shewale as leader
India Today
The 12 MPs have been given Y-level security by the central and state government.
Almost a month after over two-third Shiv Sena MLAs joined rebel leader Eknath Shinde, who is now the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, twelve of the 19 party's Lok Sabha members have written to Speaker Om Birla to make Rahul Shewale their leader and have requested him to retain Bhavana Gawali as the chief whip.
On Monday, the 12 MPs, rebelling against former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, attended a virtual meeting by Shinde, following which sources in the Shinde faction said that these MPs would be forming a separate group in the Lower House of Parliament. This could be another setback for Thackeray.
The 12 MPs have been given Y-level security by the central and state government.
However, another letter from the Uddhav Thackeray-led ‘original’ Shiv Sena has requested the Speaker to replace Gawali as chief whip with Rachna Vichare. As per the letter written by Sena leader Vinayak Raut, Vichare will hold the post now.
The 12 MPs in touch with Shinde, who is in Delhi on Tuesday, are — Dhairyasheel Sambhajirao Mane, Sadashiv Lokhande, Hemant Godse, Hemant Patil, Rajendra Gavit, Sanjay Mandlik, Shrikant Shinde, Shrirang Barne, Rahul Shewale, Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav, Krupal Tumane, Bhavna Gawli.
Meanwhile, trying to regain the party’s hold in the state, Uddhav has appointed over 100 new office-bearers in Mumbai, Palghar, Yavatmal, Amravati among other districts.
