Hearing before Speaker on NCP disqualification pleas a 'farce', says Sanjay Raut

Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday dubbed as a farce the ongoing hearing on NCP disqualification pleas before Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and claimed the Sharad Pawarfounded party will meet the same fate as his outfit reported news agency PTIThe Nationalist Congress Party NCP suffered a split in July 2023 when its senior leader Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs broke ranks and joined the Eknath Shinde government as cabinet ministers Ajit Pawar is now deputy chief ministerNarwekar is hearing NCP disqualification pleas linked to the split filed by the NCPs rival factions seeking disqualification of those owing allegiance to the other campIt hearing is a farce The Shiv Sena UBT has experienced it and now the NCP too will experience it Sanjay Raut said reported PTILast month Narwekar delivering his muchawaited verdict had recognised Chief Minister Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena as the real political party but did not disqualify any MLA from the two rival campsRaut a Rajya Sabha member said NCP founder Sharad Pawar is very much active so there was no rationale behind conducting hearing to decide whom does the party belong to reported PTIThe Supreme Court has extended time till February 15 for Narwekar to give his verdict in the NCP disqualification matter The earlier deadline was January 31Earlier Sanjay Raut claimed that the Enforcement Directorate ED is sending threats and notices to political leaders interested in joining the Uddhav faction He also criticised Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekars decision to recognise the Eknath Shinde group as the real Shiv Sena calling it completely illegalAll the big leaders who wanted to join Shiv Sena UBT had ED notices at their homes Notices are sent and they are threatened not to go anywhere near Shiv Sena Raut said while talking to reporters in Mumbai stated an ANI reportRaut also responded to Speaker Rahul Narwekars decision and said The decision given by the Speaker Rahul Narwekar about Shiv Sena was completely illegal We had all the evidence of what we had given to the ECI Election Commission of India We had given all the information to the public We removed their mask and exposed them After which they became furious and from the next day on our people started receiving notices from ED and ITIn a decision dated January 10 the Maharashtra Speaker cited the Shiv Sena constitution declaring that the Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena when rival factions emerged Per the ANI report Narwekar justified his decision saying The decision of Paksha Pramukh cannot be taken as a decision of the political party Raut emphasised that the Speakers decision contradicted the partys constitutionSpeakers decision came nearly two years after Thackeray camp first moved disqualification petitions against Shinde and the legislators supporting him under the Tenth Schedule antidefection law of the ConstitutionWith inputs from PTI and ANI