Mumbai: The Shiv Sena (UBT) has staked claim to the Leader of Opposition (LoP) post in the Maharashtra assembly and nominated senior MLA Bhaskar Jadhav for the cabinet-level position, party chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday. A letter regarding the same was submitted to assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar.
“The Shiv Sena (UBT) has staked claim to the LoP post. We have given a letter to the speaker regarding this. We are confident that a decision will be taken considering democratic values,” Thackeray said. He insisted the decision on the issue should be taken before the budget session ends on March 26.
Bhaskar Jadhav, the MLA from Guhagar in Ratnagiri district, was in the united Shiv Sena in the 1990s. He then moved to the undivided NCP before re-joining the Shiv Sena in 2019. Thackeray made it clear will be no rotation of the LoP post — which is equivalent to a cabinet minister — if it is bagged by his party, which has the highest number of MLAs (20) among the opposition outfits. On Monday, the NCP (SP) had demanded that the LoP post be shared on a rotational basis among the three constituents of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The Shiv Sena (UBT) has 20 MLAs in the lower house, followed by the Congress (16) and NCP (SP) (10).
As per precedents, an opposition party needs 10 per cent of the total seats (which comes to 28) to stake claim to the LoP post in the 288-member assembly. “But there is no such law (stipulating 10 per cent of total seats) or provision in the Constitution,” Bhaskar Jadhav had claimed on Monday.