With the Supreme Court on Friday refusing to refer pleas related to Maharashtra political crisis last year involving the Shiv Sena to a seven-member bench for reconsideration of the 2016 Nabam Rebia judgement for now, the two warring factions of the saffron party claimed to be the real Shiv Sena and hoped for justice.
In June 2022, veteran grassroots politician Eknath Shinde rebelled against Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray and toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and took over as Chief Minister with the help of the BJP.
"We have full faith in the judiciary and the decision would be on the basis of merit. We have legally established the majority government,” said Shinde, who now heads the Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena. “We have the majority and they are engaging in delaying tactics as setting up of a larger bench takes time,” he added.
"We are sure that the case would be decided on merit,” Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said echoing the CM, pointing out that the Thackeray-led group of Shiv Sena was engaging in delaying tactics.
State BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, “When the Supreme Court hears that case, it looks at all aspects of the case. We cannot speak in ifs and buts.”
Rahul Shewale, Shinde faction's group leader in Lok Sabha told reporters that the legal stand of the Thackeray-led Sena was weak. "They wanted to prolong the case. But their stand is weak," he said. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) does not believe in democratic principles and doesn't trust judiciary, he alleged, and added, "They did all they can to prolong the case in the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India."
Sanjay Shirsat, an MLA from the Shinde-led faction, welcomed the Supreme Court's refusal to refer pleas seeking a review of its 2016 verdict on speaker's disqualification powers to a seven-judge bench. "It is expected that the final verdict will be given soon," he said.
The Thackeray-led group of Shiv Sena now known as Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), aslso hoped for a positive outcome. “We have faith in the judiciary, the real Shiv Sena is led by Thackeray,” Shiv Sena chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut said, adding that truth would prevail.
Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha member Anil Desai said that the case would be heard threadbare, the chronology and the intention. “Let the hearing be held,” he said.
“The government that is in place is an illegal government,” said Shiv Sena MLA Anil Desai, who is a former Parliamentary Affairs Minister.
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal said: “Whatever I had done was within the framework of law and legislative boundaries.”
In 2016, a five-judge Constitution bench, while deciding the Nabam Rebia case of Arunachal Pradesh, had held that the assembly speaker cannot proceed with a plea for disqualification of MLAs if a prior notice seeking removal of the speaker is pending before the House. The judgement had come to the rescue of the rebel MLAs led by Shinde.
The Thackeray faction had sought their disqualification even while a notice of the Shinde group for the removal of Maharashtra Assembly Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal, a Thackeray loyalist, was pending before the House. The rebellion led by Shinde in June last year had led to a division in the Shiv Sena. The then Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray collapsed on June 29 and Shinde became the chief minister the next day with senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis taking oath as his deputy.
(With PTI inputs)