Sena nominates Ambadas Danve for LOP’s post in Council

Mumbai: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Monday recommended the name of Ambadas Danve, the party MLC from Aurangabad, for the post of Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council. Thackeray made the recommendation in a letter to the Speaker of the Legislative Council. “On July 9, the Shiv Sena legislature party had given me the right to nominate a name for the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, and I am recommending the name of Ambadas Danve,” Thackeray said in his letter submitted by the party in Vidhan Bhavan. Danve was present in the Sena delegation that met the Deputy Speaker. Originally in the BJP, 44-year-old Danve joined the Shiv Sena in 1998. In 2000, he was elected as a councillor in Aurangabad Municipal Corporation and became the group leader in the civic body. He had to resign from the position due to a controversy and worked as an ordinary shiv sainik. In October 2011, he was made the Shiv Sena District Chief of Aurangabad. In the 2014 assembly elections, when Shiv Sena and BJP fought the polls separately, he contested on a Shiv Sena ticket but lost to BJP’s Prashant Bamb by over 17,000 votes. In 2019, he was elected to the Legislative Council.

After the Shidne-Fadnavis government came to power, the National Congress Party was quick to stake its claim on the post of Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly. With 41 out of 55 MLAs declaring support to Eknath Shinde, the Uddhav Thackeray faction’s strength in the legislative assembly had shrunk substantially, leaving NCP with 53 MLAs as the largest party among the Opposition. Congress has 44 MLAs in the 288-member legislative assembly. Ajit Pawar then became the Leader of the Opposition. On July 13, the Shiv Sena had staked its claim on the LOP’s post in the Legislative Council. A delegation of Shiv Sena MLCs—Manisha Kayande, Sachin Ahir, Ambadas Danve, Vilas Potnis and Sunil Shinde had met Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe and submitted a letter staking a claim for the post of the Leader of Opposition and chief whip. Gorhe also belongs to the Shiv Sena. The Maharashtra Legislative Council— the upper house—has 78 members including 24 from the BJP, 12 from the Shiv Sena, and 10 each from the Congress and the NCP. The smaller Lok Bharti, Peasants and Workers’ Party and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh have one member each. The Council has four independents, and 15 seats are vacant.