NEW DELHI, Jan 17: The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred to January 22 the hearing on a plea of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena against the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s order declaring the Sena bloc led by CM Eknath Shinde as “real political party” after its split in June 2022.
The plea, which was filed on Monday by the Thackeray faction, was fixed by the apex court registry for hearing by a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud on January 19.
The bench, also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, was urged by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Thackeray group, that the hearing be held on Monday next week instead of this Friday.
“We will hear it on Monday,” the CJI said.
On January 15, the Thackeray faction, through lawyer Rohit Sharma, had moved the top court challenging the January 10 decision of the speaker declaring the Sena bloc led by Shinde as the “real political party”.
Maharashtra speaker Rahul Narwekar had also rejected the Thackeray faction’s plea to disqualify 16 MLAs of the ruling camp, including Shinde.
‘Uddhav faction’s press
conference show its
frustration’
The Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday took a dig at the Uddhav Thackeray-headed faction, saying its press conference held a day ago reveals its frustration.
It also alleged that the Shiv Sena (UBT) forced its party workers to attend the press conference organised in Mumbai.
The Sena (UBT) on Tuesday held what it called as a “mega press conference” and “people’s court” in Mumbai, where Uddhav Thackeray launched a broadside against Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar over his decision to recognise the CM Shinde-led party as the real Shiv Sena.
Narwekar on January 10 gave a long-awaited ruling that the Shinde faction was the real Shiv 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.
Talking to reporters here, Shinde-led Sena’s spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat said, “This press conference by Shiv Sena (UBT) on Tuesday was held out of frustration. People do such kind of things when they are frustrated.”
“This press conference proves that they have lost their existence. Shiv Sainiks were forcibly brought and made to attend the press conference. It was not a press conference, but a party rally,” he added. (PTI)