Maharashtra Speaker's verdict: "All match-fixing; we will approach Supreme Court," says Sanjay Raut

Mumbai: After the Maharashtra Speaker announced its decision in favour of the Shinde faction Shiv Sena, UBT faction leader Sanjay Raut said that this is all match-fixing and they will approach the Supreme Court. Addressing a press conference, Raut said, "The BJP dreamed that one day they would destroy Balasaheb Thackeray's Shiv Sena, but Shiv Sena will not end like this. Shiv Sena is in every Maharashtrian. Today's decision is not a decision but a conspiracy. We will approach the Supreme Court. Our fight will continue in the court. The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, to whom the power was given by the Supreme Court, had an opportunity to write history, which he has wasted. All those who are celebrating today are traitors to Maharashtra and their situation will be like that of Mussolini." He further asserted that the Speaker of the Assembly has no right to give the party to anyone else. "Shiv Sena will not end just like that, even if 2-4 people sit in Delhi and decide this. We will fight even if we lose our lives. If 40 people leave the party and go away, will the party be theirs? The Speaker has no right to give the party to anyone else," he said. "This is a dark day in the history of India," he emphasized. Delivering a verdict on cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of rival group MLAs after a split in the party in June last year, Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar said on Wednesday that the "Shinde faction was real Shiv Sena when rival factions emerged". The Speaker went into great length on the Shiv Sena constitution while delivering his crucial verdict and said "decision of Paksha Pramukh cannot be taken as decision of the political party".
"In my view, the 2018 leadership structure (submitted with ECI) was not as per the Shiv Sena Constitution. Shiv Sena party chief as per the party Constitution cannot remove anyone from the party...Uddhav Thackeray removed Eknath Shinde or any party leader from the party as per the party Constitution. So the removal of Eknath Shinde by Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022 is not accepted based on the Shiv Sena Constitution," the Speaker said.
"Also, the will of the members of the leadership structure of 2018 cannot be the will of the political party, as there are contradictory views and claims about the majority in the leadership structure by both factions," he added. The Supreme Court had last month asked the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to deliver his judgment on disqualification petitions filed by Shiv Sena factions of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray by January 10.