New Delhi : During the hearing in the Supreme Court regarding the claim on Shiv Sena, the Eknath Shinde faction said on Wednesday that we have not left the party. Eknath Shinde faction’s lawyer Harish Salve said that the anti-defection law does not apply in this case. It happen only when MLAs or MPs move to another party or leave the party. The MLAs of the Eknath Shinde faction are only angry with the party leadership and are staking claim as a separate faction as the majority is with them. The majority of MPs and MLAs are with the Eknath Shinde faction. He said that the MLAs and MPs of the Eknath Shinde faction want a change in the leadership of the party.
He said that this is not a matter of separation from the party, but of tension within the party and demand for reshuffle. On the other hand, Uddhav Thackeray faction’s advocate Kapil Sibal said that the rebel MLAs cannot lay claim to the party. Even now a third of the MLAs are with the party. He argued that the rebel MLAs will have to form a new party or join some other party. He said that the Eknath Shinde government has also been formed in a wrong way and all the decisions taken by him are illegal.
Kapil Sibal argued, ‘You cannot claim that you are a political party. You are saying this while sitting in Guwahati that you are a political party. Election Commission can take this decision. You cannot announce it sitting in Guwahati.’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi, also defending Shinde, said that the only way for the Eknath Shinde faction to survive is to merge with the BJP, which they are not doing. Meanwhile, a bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Hima Kohli adjourned the hearing till Thursday.
Eknath Shinde faction said – We didn’t leave the party, just distanced from meetings
Responding to these arguments, Harish Salve said, ‘In India, we know political parties by the names of some leaders. We belong to Shiv Sena. Our Chief Minister refused to meet us. We wanted to change the chief minister. This is not an anti-party activity but a fight within the party.’ He said that if a large number of MLAs are not satisfied with the work of the CM, then why can’t they demand a change. Eknath Shinde faction said that we have not left the Shiv Sena member. We are not going to meetings and this does not mean giving up our membership.
