MUMBAI: The newly-elected Shiv Sena MLAs on Thursday elected senior leader Eknath Shinde as leader of the party’s legislative wing, while Sunil Prabhu was elected as chief whip of the party in the Maharashtra legislature.
Shinde was the leader of the house in the previous term as well, besides being a cabinet minister in the BJP-Sena government.
First-time MLA and Thackeray family scion Aaditya tabled the motion to elect Shinde as the leader of the house. Pratap Sarnaik seconded the motion. Sena sources said that party Chief and Aaditya’s father Uddhav Thackeray was not keen to appoint his son as the head of Sena’s legislative unit.
The Shiv Sena on Thursday again indicated that it had not given up its claim to the chief minister’s post, saying that equal sharing of power must mean sharing of the top post too. After emerging victorious in the Assembly elections, the Shiv Sena and BJP are locked in a dispute over the power-sharing formula for the new government.
The BJP won 105 out of 288 seats in Maharashtra, however, the party is unable to form the government due to ally Shiv Sena’s adamant stand on a rotational tenure for the chief minister’s post.
The Shiv Sena, with 56 seats, wants the BJP to give a written assurance that it will adhere to the 50:50 seat-sharing formula that it claims was discussed between the two parties before the elections.
Earlier, a delegation of Shiv Sena leaders, including MLA Aditya Thackeray, met Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan and sought prompt financial aid for farmers hit by untimely rains.“The farmers in the State are in trouble due to untimely rains. These farmers are seeking help from the government and the required assistance should be provided to them,” said Aditya Thackeray after meeting the Governor.
Meanwhile, Congress and NCP is not willing to form a government with support from Shiv Sena. As the State is likely to face many challenges in the future, the opposition doesn’t want to be part of the government or support them.
