Mumbai (Maharashtra): Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar will head the committee to review the country's anti-defection law. The move triggered strong response from the Opposition, including Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), who hit out at Narwekar.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla constituted a committee to reconsider the anti-defection law. Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar has been selected as the chairman of that committee.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, party MPs Sanjay Raut and MP Vinayak Raut, NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole slammed Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rahul Narwekar for the latter's appointment.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray asked whether Narwekar's appointment should be considered as a then next step to finish democracy in India.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has "entrusted the responsibility of defection law to the person who has defected ten times so far." "Narwekar says that Shiv Sena created by Balasaheb Thackeray is not the real Shiv Sena, so how can that person take a decision on the anti-defection law?," asked Sanjay Raut.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray wondered whether is was a reward for Narwekar. In a post on X, Aaditya, a former Maharashtra minister, stated, "At first glance, this news line sounds like sarcasm… then you realise it isn’t. Then you wonder, why did this person named herein get this task of heading the Anti Defection Law review panel? Whether is it the vast experience of hopping 3 parties in a span of around 5 years? Or is it a reward for the current circumstances created by the said person as tribunal, in Maharashtra?."
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Jitendra Awhad, who belongs to the Sharad Pawar faction, also hit out over Narwekar's appointment. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Awhad said, "As the Chairman of the Study Committee on the 10th Schedule of the Constitution of India regarding the Prohibition of Defection Act, What could be a bigger tragedy than the election of Rahul Narwekar."
"It is the biggest mockery of constitutional values to appoint a person who has made a home with all parties by giving hand to principle and morality for his own political interests. This appointment has been made by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. We have already seen from the case of suspension of MPs, what is Birla's political understanding beyond being a yes man. Therefore, it should not be said that this research committee will treat the people's representatives differently," said Awhad, a senior legislator.
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said that the decision taken by Rahul Narwekar about Shiv Sena was a "scripted" one. "Narwekar did not use his brains. This was the plan of the Centre. The Maharashtra Assembly has a different stature in the country. However, this decision has demeaned this tradition," alleged Patole.
