Cracks surface in Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party as calls to back Murmu nomination rise

Cracks have surfaced in the Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party with a large section of lawmakers of the crisis-ridden saffron party calling to support BJP-led NDA’s Presidential nominee Draupadi Murmu. Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray has not yet taken a call on the issue.

The parent Shiv Sena is still part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the two other allies, NCP and Congress have supported Yashwant Sinha for the top post.

With recent political turmoil in the state, the legislature party has witnessed a split, with the new CM Eknath Shinde commanding 40 members, while the remaining 15 have committed to the Thackeray family.

For the Presidential elections, MPs can vote according to their will and conscience, as there is no whip. The party sends 18 MPs to Lok Sabha from Maharashtra and three to the Rajya Sabha.

Also read: 'Akhilesh lacks political maturity,' says Shivpal; declares support for NDA Presidential nominee Murmu

Shiv Sena's three Rajya Sabha MPs — Sanjay Raut, Anil Desai and Priyanka Chaturvedi — have pledged loyalty to Thackerays. However, the 18 in the lower house are divided.

The Shiv Sena MPs are - Prataprao Jadhav (Buldhana), Krupal Tamhane (Ramtek-SC), Bhawana Gawali (Yavatmal-Washim), Hemant Patil (Hingoli), Sanjay Jadhav (Parbhani), Hemant Godse (Nashik), Rajendra Gavit (Palghar-ST), Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan), Rajan Vichare (Thane), Gajanan Kirtikar (Mumbai North West), Rahul Shewale (Mumbai South Central), Arvind Sawant (Mumbai South), Shrirang Barne (Maval), Sadashiv Lokhande (Shirdi-SC), Omprakash Rajenimbalkar (Osmanabad), Vinayak Raut (Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg), Sanjay Mahadik (Kolhapur) and Dhairyashil Mane (Hatkanangle).

MPs Shewale and Gavit have written to Thackeray to pledge support to Murmu as she is the first tribal nominee.

At least three MPs who have confirmed loyalties to the Thackerays are Sawant, Raut and Kirtikar.

While in the NDA coalition, the Shiv Sena broke ranks and supported Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee, the two Congress-UPA nominees for successive Presidential polls in 2007 and 2012, respectively. The Shiv Sena supported Patil as she hailed from Maharashtra and Mukherjee for his merit.

Patil had defeated Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, a BJP veteran and three-time Rajasthan CM while Mukherjee defeated PA Sangma, a former Lok Sabha speaker. However, in 2017, when the Shiv Sena-BJP government was in power in Maharashtra, it supported BJP-NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind.