Shiv Sena chief whip issues notice to MLAs of Uddhav camp, leaves Aaditya 'out of respect"

Mumbai, July 4: After winning the trust vote in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena on Monday night issued a notice to 14 legislators from the Uddhav Thackeray camp for violating a whip issued by Shiv Sena chief whip and Shinde loyalist Bharat Gogawale.

The notice, however, excluded the name of Aaditya Thackeray, son of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, “out of respect”. The whip issued by Gogawale had asked all the MLAs of Shiv Sena to vote for Eknath Shinde in the trust vote.

Gogawale was recognised as the chief whip of Shiv Sena by Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narvekar on Sunday, a day before the floor test. “It is true that we have issued a notice for the violation of the whip to Shiv Sena MLAs who did not vote for CM Shinde. However, we have omitted the name of Aaditya from it out of respect,” Gogawale told PTI.

He said all Shiv Sena MLAs, including those in the Uddhav Thackeray camp, had worked together for a long time with Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray. "We respect them. But they should have addressed our concerns," he added.

The Shiv Sena had 55 MLAs before the rebellion in the 288-member Assembly, whose current strength is 287 due to the death of a Sena legislator. In the trust vote, 164 MLAs voted for the motion of confidence while 99 voted against it. PTI