New Delhi The Shiv Sena, led by Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, has been allotted the parliamentary party office of the erstwhile undivided outfit, days after the Election Commission of India (ECI) ruled that the party name and symbol belongs to the Shinde group, and not the faction led by Uddhav Thackeray, according to officials aware of the matter.
The Lok Sabha officials cited above indicated that Sena leader Rahul Ramesh Shewale is set to get a front row seat in the Lok Sabha, replacing Vinayak Raut, who is part of the Thackeray faction.
“Room number 128, Parliament House has been allotted to the Shiv Sena parliamentary party for office of the Shiv Sena parliamentary party,” a letter written to Shewale from the Lok Sabha secretariat on February 20 read.
In June last year, Shinde split the Shiv Sena, toppled the Udhhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra, and formed a new government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as an ally. While several aspects of the split are being considered by the Supreme Court, on February 17, ECI gave its verdict that the Sena name and poll symbol belongs to the Shinde faction. To be sure, Uddhav Thackeray on Monday moved the top court against this decision, too, and the matter is likely to be taken up on Wednesday.
The quick handover of the Sena’s parliamentary office Shewale means the Uddhav faction will have to function from a different place as officials indicated that the group, with only seven MPs, may not get any office in the Parliament complex.
An office in Parliament is used by parties for holding internal meetings, strategising before debates, and preparing notes. It offers party MPs an exclusive place in the Parliament building. The size of the office is usually proportionate to the tally of the parliamentary party.
On December 13, the Lok Sabha officials reshuffled the seats of MPs to bring new ministers closer to the Well. More than 12% of 66 Lok Sabha MPs were allotted new seats, but Sena seats were left untouched. Now, after the ECI verdict, discussions have started on changing the seats of the Sena MPs with Eknath Shinde.
“After the Lok Sabha Speaker returns from Gangtok, seats allotted to Sena MPs might be reshuffled. Sena’s floor leader Shewale is expected to get a front-row seat,” said one of the officials cited above.