Fearing revolt from party MPs, the Uddhav Thackeray Shiv Sena faction has appointed a Chief Whip to the Lok Sabha. Sanjay Raut, a senior party leader, wrote today to the Lok Sabha speaker informing him that Rajan Vichare has been elected Chief Whip. He replaces Bhawna Gwli.
Sena members, 19 in Lok Sabha, and three in Rajya Sabha respectively, will suffer a great deal from the spread of the rebellion by the MPs.
Uddhav Thackeray, who lost 40 MLAs to Eknath Shinde’s revolt last month, was forced from power.
The Chief Minister’s post was vacated by him last week. The Shinde faction joined the BJP on Tuesday and claimed to be forming government. It passed the majority test at the assembly Monday.
The Eknath Shinde camp won 164 votes during the majority vote in the 288 member assembly. This is way more than the simple majority of 144. Only 99 MLAs opposed it, down from the 107 votes that Opposition had won during voting for the Speaker’s position on Sunday.