Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction leader Sanjay Raut launched a broadside against Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar on Wednesday, questioning whether the Speaker was trying to ‘influence’ the Supreme Court’s decision in the much-anticipated verdict on the disqualification petition of the 16 legislators of the ruling Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Mr. Raut alluded to the recent ‘closed-door meeting’ Mr. Narvekar had with Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on May 2 and also criticised the Speaker’s tour of London slated on May 11 – just when the Supreme Court was due to give its judgement.
“Does Rahul Narvekar already know of the Supreme Court’s judgment on disqualification of legislators after meeting the Law Minister for over three hours? Is this the reason why he is going on a tour of London at this moment, when the SC verdict is due?” said the Sena (UBT) leader.
Mr. Narvekar has clarified that his London programme was pre-planned and had nothing to do with the timing of the SC judgement.
Mr. Raut said that the judgement would prove if the Indian judiciary was indeed independent or working under someone’s pressure.
“Today, Pakistan is burning because it is not functioning according to its Constitution. While we believe in the Constitution and in justice, the Shinde camp’s certainty that the verdict will come in their favour reeks of mischief behind the scenes. While we [Sena (UBT)] are not saying the verdict will come on our side, the moment anyone confidently says the judgement will favour them, it means there has been some wrongdoing somewhere,” alleged the Sena (UBT) leader.
Earlier, Mr. Narvekar had said that the disqualification of MLAs for violating the anti-defection law was solely within the jurisdiction of the Speaker and no other body could interfere with this right.
Mr. Raut took umbrage at the Speaker’s remarks, stating that while the Uddhav Thackeray camp believed in the Constitution of the country, there was a sense of scepticism about the outcome.
He further claimed that the decision to disqualify the MLAs or not actually belonged to Narhari Zirwal, who was the acting Speaker at the time of Mr. Shinde’s intra-party revolt which split the Shiv Sena in June last year.
The Sena (UBT) leader also targeted PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for forsaking riot-hit Manipur and spending their time in campaigning for the Karnataka election instead.
Claiming that the BJP would lose badly in Karnataka, he said the results would be an indicator of the fate of the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
“Karnataka is an important State. This is the only State in the BJP’s kitty in the South. From Modi to Amit Shah, the entire Central Cabinet campaigned there, expending exorbitant sums of money. They even invoked Bajrang Bali’s name [Lord Hanuman’s name]… but Bajrang Bali will hit the BJP with his mace and put this party in its proper place,” said Mr. Raut.
