Speaker's actions spark another Maha storm as Shinde faces floor test

The political turmoil in Maharashtra continues even as Chief Minister Eknath Shinde faces a floor test in the state assembly on Monday. Sunday witnessed a series of developments that could prompt the Uddhav Thackeray camp of the Shiv Sena to initiate more legal challenges.

Let us take a look at what has been happening in the last 24 hours:

* BJP leader and first-time MLA Rahul Narvekar was elected as the new assembly speaker during the two-day special assembly session.

* Narvekar's first significant decision was to reinstate Eknath Shinde as the Shiv Sena legislature party leader, removing Ajay Chaudhary. He also recognised Bharat Gogawale's appointment as the chief whip of the Sena replacing Sunil Prabhu. Gogawale belongs to the Shinde camp while Prabhu is from the Uddhav faction.

* The Maharashtra Legislature secretariat claimed that it received a letter from the Shinde-led faction -- on June 22 -- objecting to his removal by Uddhav as the group leader of the Shiv Sena legislature party. Narvekar, in a note released late on Sunday, said that he had rejected Sena MLA Ajay Chaudhary's appointment as the group leader of the legislative unit of the party after discussing the legalities of the matter.

* The decision is significant considering that Chief Minister Shinde will on Monday attempt to prove his numbers on the floor of the assembly. 

* With the Shinde camp in control of the legislature party, the 16 MLAs with Uddhav face disqualification if they go against the while issued by Gogawale for the trust vote. 

* The Uddhav camp is crying foul over the Speaker's decision. Chaudhary claimed that Narvekar did not even conduct any hearing over the objections of both sides. "Shiv Sena MLAs Dada Bhuse and Sanjay Rathod endorsed me when my name was proposed for the Shiv Sena group leader's post. They both later joined the Shinde camp. How can the Speaker ignore these facts? When my appointment was recognised by acting speaker Narhari Zirwal. How can the newly-appointed Speaker Rahul Narvekar intervene and overrule that," he asked. 

* Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said that the Uddhav camp will move the court to challenge the decision, which it termed as 'trampling the Constitution and democratic norms'.