Shiv Sena (UBT) urges Speaker to hear them before acting on rebels

Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs Arvind Sawant and Anil Desai met the Lok Sabha Speaker, urging him to hear their side before taking any action on six rebel MPs who joined the Eknath Shinde-led faction. The Speaker confirmed he received no such request yet.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant on Wednesday said they met Lok Sabha Speaker following the decision of party rebels to join another party and urged him to hear them before taking any decision. Sawant, who was accompanied by party MP Anil Desai, said they had written to the Speaker earlier following the parliamentary party meeting and have written to him again.

"You know that six of our Shiv Sena MPs from the Uddhav Thackeray-led party left the party and joined another party. Anil Desai and I met Lok Sabha Speaker last week and submitted a request regarding this matter. In that request, we stated that if any individual or MP comes to you individually or in a group and says they want to leave, you should protect the Constitution. This is our expectation," Arvind Sawant told reporters.

"Now, after this incident, we sent a letter again, requesting that if anything happens regarding this matter, please hear from us first and don't make a decision without hearing from us. So, he gave us time today. We asked him to let us know if he received any letters. He said he did not receive any letters," he added.

Rebellion in Parliamentary Wing

Six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs have joined Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The six MPs had not attended the Parliamentary Party meeting called by Shiv Sena (UBT) headed by Uddhav Thackeray. Only three Lok Sabha MPs, indcluding Sawant and Desai had attended the meeting.

Apart from Shiv Sena (UBT), Trinamool Congress has also seen turmoil. There has been rift in its legislative and parliamentary wings.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)