In another snub to Uddhav Thackeray, his Shiv Sena faction in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was not invited for a crucial Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting to be held Thursday ahead of the Monsoon Session of the legislature.
The Monsoon Session will be held from August 17 to 25.
The Thackeray faction’s group leader Ajay Chaudhari had written a letter to the Speaker seeking representation at the BAC.
The BAC members in the Assembly included Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar and Chandrakant Patil (BJP); Leader of the Opposition Ajit Pawar and Jayant Patil (NCP); and Balasaheb Thorat and Ashok Chavan (Congress). In addition, Deputy Speaker Narahari Zirwal and Ashish Shekar (BJP), Chhagan Bhujbal (NCP) and Amin Patel (Congress) were invitees for the BAC meet.
On the other hand, the Thackeray-led Sena got representation in the Maharashtra Legislative Council's BAC as newly appointed Leader of Opposition Ambadas Danve and Anil Parab will be at its Thursday meet.
The other members of the state council BAC included Shinde, Fadnavis, Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe, Pravin Darekar and Vijay Girdhar (BJP); Shashikant Shinde (NCP); and Bhai Jagtap (Congress). The list of invitees included Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil (BJP); Jayant Patil (PWP); Kapil Patil (Lok Bharati); and Vikas Potnis (Thackeray's Shiv Sena).
During a previous two-day session from July 3 to 5, newly elected Speaker Rahul Narvekar rejected the Thackeray Sena faction's claim for recognition as the official Shiv Sena group. Instead, the group led by Shinde was recognised as the Shiv Sena group with him as the Legislature Party leader and Bharat Gogawale as the Chief Whip.
In the 288-member Assembly - one seat is vacant because of the death of a Shiv Sena legislator - the crisis-ridden Sena has 55 seats. Among those, 40 are with the Shinde faction while 15 remain with Thackeray.
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