Mumbai: Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale on Saturday claimed that all party MPs wanted to return to the National Democratic Alliance and their opinion was conveyed to Uddhav Thackeray on June 25. Appearing as a witness in the disqualification cases against 38 Shiv Sena MLAs, Mr. Shewale also denied that Uddhav Thackeray was elected as ‘Paksh Pramukh’ after changing the party's constitution in 2018.
In his deposition before the Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, Mr. Shewale, who represents Mumbai South Central constituency in Lok Sabha, said that all 19 Shiv Sena MPs were of the opinion that the party must rejoin the NDA. He claimed that the MPs informed met Mr. Thackeray at Shiv Sena Bhavan on June 25, five days after Eknath Shinde’s rebellion, and informed him about their opinion.
However, in a cross-examination by advocate Devadatt Kamat, Mr. Shewale admitted that no written communication was given to Mr. Thackeray. He said that the MPs informed Mr. Thackeray orally.
The Lok Sabha MP also claimed that he was not aware of any changes made in the party constitution in 2018. The claim was significant as the Shinde faction claims that Uddhav Thackeray's election to the post of ‘Paksh Pramukh’ is illegal. The post was created through an alleged amendment in the Shiv Sena constitution in 2018.
According to the Thackeray faction, Uddhav Thackeray was elected as ‘Paksh Pramukh’ on February 23, 2018, which was informed to the Election Commission of India on February 27, 2018. The said resolution is available on the ECI website.
When the resolution was shown to him, Mr. Shewale said that no such resolution was passed by the party’s executive committee and he was seeing the resolution for the first time.
Interestingly, The ECI has said that the Shiv Sena constitution amended in 2018 is not on its record. The Speaker has taken the party’s 1999 constitution on record, which is on record with the ECI. According to the 1999 constitution, the post of ‘Paksh Pramukh’ did not exist in the party.
Thackeray faction MLA Sunil Prabhu said that the witnesses presented by the Shinde faction are lying. “Whenever the final decision comes, we are confident that the truth will win,” he said.
