For the second consecutive day, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA and the party’s chief whip in the legislative assembly, Sunil Prabhu, faced cross-examination from the lawyer representing Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Wednesday during the hearing of Sena MLAs’ disqualification pleas.
Shinde-led Sena’s lawyer, Mahesh Jethmalaani, scrutinized Prabhu about the whip he claimed to have issued on June 21 last year when a group of MLAs led by Shinde rebelled against the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena and went to Surat in Gujarat.
Following the hearing, Jethmalani alleged that the entire case hinges on the claim of a whip issued by Sena UBT, which he asserted was defied. He contended that no such whip was issued and that the one presented by Sena UBT is forged.
“The whip shown by them (Sena UBT) is bogus. It’s forgery. Their whole disqualification petition is based on that whip, which was supposedly issued on June 21, but that was not followed. We have argued that the whip of Sunil Prabhu was forged and was never issued or sent,” Jethmalani stated.
Responding to Jethmalani’s allegations, Sena UBT MP Anil Desai defended the legitimacy of the whip, emphasizing that it is issued by a party for its legislators, and questioned how a lawyer could challenge its validity or label it as bogus. “The whip is genuine, and the attempts made by their (Shinde-led Sena’s) lawyer would not succeed in proving the whip bogus,” Desai asserted.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Jethmalani questioned Prabhu about the details of the whip he claimed to have issued to Sena MLAs for the party’s meeting on June 21, 2022. This cross-examination is crucial as Sena UBT has filed disqualification petitions against Sena rebel MLAs, asserting that they defied the whip issued by Sena Chief Whip to attend the meeting.
In earlier hearings and submissions last month, Shinde-led Sena had asserted that they never received any such whip from Sena UBT, negating the question of defying it and, consequently, disqualification.
During Wednesday’s cross-examination, Prabhu was questioned about the timing and issuance of the whip, whether he received copies from the MLAs, aiming to prove that the whip was forged and never issued.
In response, Prabhu stated that the whip was signed and issued on June 20, 2022, and physically handed to Sena MLAs present in the office and at the MLA guest house during the night of June 20-21. For those MLAs who were absent or untraceable, the whip was sent via WhatsApp, according to Prabhu.
The cross-examination will continue over the next few days. Meanwhile, Speaker Rahul Narwekar expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of the proceeding, emphasizing the limited time available. With a Supreme Court-set deadline to adjudicate the matter by December 31, Narwekar urged a more expedited process to meet the timeline.
