After the Supreme Court asked the Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly Rahul Narvekar to set a timeline for hearing on the disqualification petitions against MLAs, including Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, within 7 days, the Shiv Sena faction of Uddhav Thackeray has alleged deliberate delay by the Speaker in the aforesaid case.
On his part, Speaker Narvekar has said he is yet to go through the Supreme Court’s order copy and only after that, he will comment.
In Delhi, Shiv Sena UBT MP Anil Desai said that his party is waiting and seeking justice, but failed to understand as to why the same is being delayed. After hearing both the sides, the Supreme Court on Monday expressed displeasure that even after five months, no decision has been taken on the Sena vs Sena case on the disqualification issue. The top court on 11 May had asked the Speaker to hold the hearing at the earliest.
Anil Desai said, “We had sent three reminders to start hearing on the disqualification issue, but all went in vein, but now when it was announced that the Supreme Court is going to hear the petition on 18 September, the Speaker started the process of hearing on 14 September.”
On his part, Speaker Narvekar has said that there has been neither delay nor hurry in taking decision. However, the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena feels that there is a bigger game plan of the government to delay the process as Maharashtra will go for Assembly polls next year.