MUMBAI: In a fresh setback for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, the state legislature secretariat has not invited it for Thursday's meeting of the business advisory committee to draft the schedule of the monsoon session of the state legislature that begins on August 17.
A senior legislature secretariat official told TOI that for the secretariat, the Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde is the real Shiv Sena. "For the legislature secretariat, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is the real Shiv Sena, so there was no question of inviting a nominee of the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray," he said.
Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar will preside over the meeting, which will be attended by Shinde, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Shinde group's Dadaji Bhuse and Uday Samant, the NCP's Ajit Pawar and Jayant Patil, the Congress's Balasaheb Thorat and Ashok Chavan and Sudhir Mungantiwar, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and Chandrakant Patil of the BJP. Deputy speaker of the assembly Narhari Zirwal, BJP's Ashish Shelar, NCP's Chhagan Bhujbal and Congress's Amin Patel will be special invitees.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray group) legislature party leader Ajay Choudhary has given a letter to the speaker expressing surprise over the failure to invite its nominees for the BAC meeting. "Not inviting the Shiv Sena is wrong, particularly when all key issues are pending before the Supreme Court," a senior Sena leader said.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi government comprising the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress was brought down and was replaced by a government of the Shiv Sena breakaway faction led by Eknath Shinde and the BJP.
