Shiv Sena seeks disqualification of 12 MPs of Shinde faction in Lok Sabha

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and sought disqualification of 12 rebel members of the Eknath Shinde faction of the party in the lower house of Parliament.

"I have sought disqualification of 12 Shiv Sena rebel Lok Sabha members," Raut, the leader of the Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party, told reporters here after meeting the Speaker.

The 12 Lok Sabha members, owing allegiance to Shinde, had declared Rahul Shewale as their leader and five-term member Bhawana Gawli as the chief whip of the party.

Shewale had insisted that the 12 members had not formed a separate group in the Lok Sabha but had merely replaced Vinayak Raut as their leader in the House.

The Speaker had recognised Shewale as the Shiv Sena leader in the Lok Sabha.

After the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had appointed Vinayak Raut as the party's leader in the Lok Sabha. Sanjay Raut was appointed as the leader in the Rajya Sabha as well as the leader of the Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party comprising members in both the Houses.