Shinde group seeks separate hearings of Sena disqualification pleas

Mumbai: As Maharashtra Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar on Thursday heard the disqualification petitions filed by rival Shiv Sena factions led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray, the Shinde group sought separate hearings.

The Uddhav-led faction, however, insisted that there was no need for hearing the petitions separately as the reason behind all the pleas was the same.

While Narwekar had earlier started the process to hear the pleas, the first actual hearing of disqualification pleas against Shinde and 15 other MLAs was held at Vidhan Bhavan on Thursday, according to counsels who represented the warring sides.

After the hearing was over for the day, senior counsel for the Shinde group, Anil Sakhare, told reporters, ‘Every person who is a party to the disqualification petitions has something to say about it. Thus, we demanded separate hearings of the petitions instead of clubbing them all together.’

His contention was countered by the Thackeray-led Sena (UBT).

Rajya Sabha member Anil Desai said, ‘Our demand for the clubbing of all the disqualification petitions and conducting the hearing accordingly still remains the same as the cause mentioned in every petition is the same.’