Uddhav continues to be chief, rebel group doesn't have recognition: MP Sawant

Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant on Thursday asserted that Uddhav Thackeray continues to be the Sena chief even as most of its MLAs have rebelled and joined the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath ShindeThe Shiv Sena as a political party and the Sena legislature party are two different entities Sawant told a web portal and claimed the rebel group does not have recognitionEven if twothird of the MLAs go Uddhav Thackeray remains the Sena chief and according to law only he is the one who can appoint leader of the legislature party he saidYou cannot separate Thackeray and the Shiv Sena Sawant assertedRebel Shiv Sena MLA Gulabrao Patil on Wednesday said the faction led by CM Shinde was the real claimant of the partys bow and arrow poll symbol a claim contested by the Uddhav Thackerayheaded campPatil had also said that 12 of the 18 Shiv Sena MPs were supporting the Shindeled groupSawant who has been one of the leaders handling the Thackeray camps legal front in the midst of the setback that it has been facing said according to the antidefection law the rebel MLAs have to merge their group with some another party immediatelyThe rebels have not merged their group with another party They dont have any recognition The law says they have to merge with a political party Sawant saidLast month a majority of the Sena MLAs led by Shinde rebelled against the party leadership asking it to snap ties with the NCP and the CongressThe revolt in the party led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackerayled governmentFollowing the rebellion Thackeray had removed Shinde as the Sena legislature party leader and replaced him with Ajay Chaudhary Sunil Prabhu who was then appointed the chief whip had called a meeting of the MLAs while the rebel group was in GuwahatiSawant said since the rebels had not turned up the party moved a disqualification plea before Deputy Speaker Narhari ZirwalZirwal had recognised Chaudhary as the Sena legislature party leader and Prabhu as the chief whip and sought response from rebel MLAs on their disqualification pleaThe rebels then moved the Supreme Court which will hear their pleas on July 11Notably newly elected state Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar had reinstated Shinde as the Shiv Sena legislature party leader removing Ajay ChaudharyNarvekar also recognised the appointment of Bharat Gogawale from the Shinde camp as the chief whip of the Sena removing Sunil Prabhu who belongs to the Thackeray factionSawant said Narvekar recognised Shinde as the Sena legislature party leader but he did not given any legal provision while overruling the deputy speakers orderThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever