Shiv Sena split: MPs’ disaffection with Vinayak Raut prompted change of floor leader in Lok Sabha, says rebel MP Rahul Shewale

Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction meets Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to express their disappointment over promptly approving rebel MP Rahul Shewale as the party’s floor leader

Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale. File. | Photo Credit: PTI

Even as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to express their disappointment on the latter’s part in promptly approving rebel MP Rahul Shewale as the party’s floor leader, Mr. Shewale said that the Eknath Shinde-led rebel camp had completed all necessary legal formalities required in changing the group leader in the Lower House.

Speaking in New Delhi, Mr. Shewale said that there was widespread disaffection against Ratnagiri MP Vinayak Raut, who was appointed by Uddhav Thackeray as the group leader in the LS. He further said that if the Uddhav faction moved the Supreme Court over this issue, their charges would not stick in the apex court.

“He [Mr. Raut] had proved unsuccessful in either adopting ‘Hindutva’ or addressing problems related to development faced by other Sena MPs. Both Arvind Sawant and Mr. Raut (staunch Uddhav Thackeray loyalists) never gave a chance for the other MPs to speak…even though Mr. Raut is from the Konkan region, it was he who spoke on issues pertaining to Mumbai even though he did not have any knowledge of them,” said Mr. Shewale, the MP from Mumbai South-Central, on Friday.

Claiming that Mr. Raut’s coordination was not proper with State government and other MPs, Mr. Shewale further alleged that all Sena MPs had been allegedly disgruntled with him for the last two-and-a-half years.

“Accordingly, our LS chief whip, Ms. Bhawana Gawali, had put forward the resolution that Mr. Raut would have to be replaced. All legal formalities and submissions were completed by us and submitted to the Speaker on July 18. A circular naming the new group leader [Mr. Shewale himself] was taken out on July 19,” he said. 

Earlier this week, after the Shiv Sena’s Lok Sabha group split when 12 of the 19 Sena MPs moved over to the Shinde rebel camp, Mr. Shewale was named as the new Sena group leader in the Lower House in lieu of Mr. Raut.  

This move on part of the Shinde faction was questioned by Mr. Raut and the MPs loyal to the Uddhav camp, who said they would be moving the Supreme Court over the ‘partisan attitude’ displayed by the Lok Sabha Secretariat and Mr. Birla in endorsing Mr. Shewale as the new group leader. 

Mr. Raut claimed that the Speaker had chosen to ignore two letters in the past few days submitted by the Thackeray camp, urging the Speaker not to entertain any representation from the breakaway Shinde faction. 

“What has happened is improper…the public will put Rahul Shewale in his place in the coming election,” said Mr. Sawant.

Mr. Sawant, Mr. Raut and Rajan Vichare (who was named as the chief whip after the Uddhav faction removed Ms. Gawali) met with Mr. Birla and submitted a letter on Friday expressing their dissatisfaction with the process regarding Mr. Shewale’s appointment as the new group leader.