Shinde group seeks separate hearings of disqualification pleas

As Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar on Thursday heard the disqualification petitions filed by rival Shiv Sena factions led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray, the Shinde group sought separate hearings.

The Uddhav-led faction, however, insisted that there was no need for hearing the petitions separately as the reason behind all the pleas was the same.

While Narwekar had earlier started the process to hear the pleas, the first actual hearing -- of disqualification pleas against Shinde and 15 other MLAs -- was held at Vidhan Bhavan on Thursday, according to counsels who represented the warring sides.

After the hearing was over for the day, senior counsel for the Shinde group, Anil Sakhare, told reporters, "Every person who is a party to the disqualification petitions has something to say about it. Thus, we demanded separate hearings of the petitions instead of clubbing them all together."

His contention was countered by the Thackeray-led Sena-UBT.

Rajya Sabha member Anil Desai said, "Our demand for the clubbing of all the disqualification petitions and conducting the hearing accordingly still remains the same as the cause mentioned in every petition is the same."

All petitions filed from the Sena-UBT side pertain to disqualification of MLAs who joined the 'other side' (Shinde faction), he said.

"We urge the speaker that there is no further delay in deciding the petitions. Justice delayed is justice denied," Desai said.

Narwekar on Wednesday said he had advanced the hearing on the disqualification petitions to Thursday from Friday as it was clashing with the G20 Parliamentary Speakers' Summit (P20) in Delhi on October 13. Narwekar said he didn't want to delay the matter any further.

The Sena factions filed a barrage of disqualification pleas against each other last year after Shinde and 39 MLAs broke away from the parent party and sided with the BJP to form the government.

In July, the speaker had issued notices to 40 MLAs of the Shinde-led Sena and 14 of the Thackeray faction, seeking their replies on disqualification petitions against them.

The notices were issued against a total of 54 MLAs. But notice was not issued against Sena-UBT MLA Rutuja Latke who was elected after the Shiv Sena split last year.

Sunil Prabhu from the Thackeray faction, in his capacity as chief whip of the undivided Shiv Sena, had filed the disqualification petitions against Shinde and 15 other MLAs last year after the rebellion and resultant split in the party.

On May 11 this year, the Supreme Court ruled that Shinde will continue to be the chief minister of Maharashtra. It also said that it cannot reinstate the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition government headed by Thackeray as the latter chose to resign without facing a floor test in the wake of Shinde's rebellion.

The Shiv Sena-UBT has been accusing Narwekar of deliberately delaying in arriving at a decision on the disqualification pleas.

On September 21, Narwekar said he would not delay the decision on the disqualification pleas of some Shiv Sena MLAs, but wouldn't rush into it either as it may result in "miscarriage of justice".