Seven Shiv Sena MPs skip meeting called by Uddhav Thackeray
The Hindu
According to sources, a rift materialized between the MPs present in the meeting which was to discuss the Sena’s stance on the July 18 Presidential election
Amid raging speculation of a split within the Shiv Sena MPs, seven of the 19 Lok Sabha MPs were missing at a meeting of all lawmakers called by party chief and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at the latter’s residence ‘Matoshree’ on Monday.
Twelve Lok Sabha MPs were present along with the two Rajya Sabha lawmakers Sanjay Raut and Priyanka Chaturvedi while the other RS MP Anil Desai, said to be a staunch supporter of the Thackeray faction, was in Delhi.
Ever since Sena leader Eknath Shinde’s intra-party revolt last month, which saw him break away from the Thackeray faction along with 39 other Sena MLAs and topple the tripartite ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ government, rumours have been rife about a significant section of Sena MPs being in touch with the Shinde camp.
Those absent in today’s meeting called by Mr. Thackeray included Kalyan MP Dr. Shrikant Shinde - the son of current Chief Minister Eknath Shinde; Yavatmal MP Bhawna Gawli; Hingoli MP Hemant Patil; Kolhapur MP Sanjay Mandlik; Parbhani MP Sanjay Jadhav, Ramtek MP Krupal Tumane; and the MP from Dadra and Nagar Haveli Kalaben Delkar.
According to sources, a rift materialized between the MPs present in the meeting, which was to discuss the Sena’s stance on the July 18 Presidential election.
While it is believed that Sanjay Raut had urged his colleagues to vote for the opposition Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha, a number of the MPs present wanted the party to vote for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance’s candidate Draupadi Murmu.
Mr. Thackeray has said he would announce his party’s decision on the Presidential election in the next two days. The usually voluble Mr. Raut left the three-hour meeting without speaking to reporters.