Taking battle to people's court: Uddhav on speaker's ruling

Launching a broadside against Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar over his decision to recognise the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led party as the real Shiv Sena, rival group head Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said he will take the battle to the people's court.

Speaking at a "people's court" and holding a "mega press conference", Thackeray said his fight would decide whether democracy survives in the country.

Defending his decision, Narwekar, at a press conference elsewhere, asserted that his actions were based on the guidelines provided by the Supreme Court, and the people of the state know the truth.

The "people's court" was held in Worli --- the constituency of Uddhav Thackeray's son and former state minister Aaditya Thackeray --- and attended by top leaders of the Shiv Sena UBT and the lawyers who were part of Thackeray's legal team in the Supreme Court as well as before the Election Commission and at the hearings conducted by Narwekar.

Thackeray, a former Maharashtra chief minister, dubbed Narwekar as "deceitful", and challenged him and Chief Minister Shinde to a public debate with him on which faction was the real Shiv Sena.

Narwekar on January 10 held in a long-awaited ruling that the Shinde faction was the real Sena while dismissing disqualification petitions filed by both Shinde and Thackeray camps against each other's MLAs following a split in the party in June 2022.

"I am taking this battle to the people's court," a combative Thackeray said.

Thackeray also relied on old videos of his election as party chief in 2013 and 2018 to buttress his point.

In one of the videos, Narwekar is seen attending the party event when he was part of the undivided Shiv Sena.

If he was not the legitimate Shiv Sena chief, why the BJP invited him to Delhi after the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha poll victories, Thackeray asked.

Targeting the Election Commission, he asked whether it "swallowed" the constitution of the undivided Sena, and said it should reimburse the money spent on 19.41 lakh affidavits of party members, signed on Rs 100 stamp papers, which it had submitted during the hearings before the poll body.

Shiv Sena UBT leader Anil Parab, who is part of the team that takes care of the legal aspect of the case, said between 2018 and 2022, the Election Commission of India communicated with the undivided Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackeray regularly.

Narwekar, on the other hand, justified his decision not to accept the undivided Shiv Sena's amended constitution of 2018. The party had then informed the Election Commission only about Uddhav Thackeray being the party chief but did not submit the amended constitution, he said.

In his ruling, Narwekar held that the Sena's 1999 constitution was the valid one for deciding which faction was the real Shiv Sena.

"My actions were based on the Supreme Court's guidelines," he said at the press conference.

Justifying his decision not to disqualify Thackeray faction MLAs, Narwekar said the whip issued to them was not sent properly.

Taking a dig at Thackeray, Narwekar said a "part-time president or part-time lawyer" cannot do work, and one has to dedicate himself fully to a party.

Rules framed by a party should not just be on paper but must be implemented, Narwekar further said, adding that running a party is a matter of responsibility.