The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena has nominated Rajan Vichare as the party's chief whip in Lok Sabha in place of Bhavana Gawali, party leader and MP Sanjay Raut said on Wednesday, 6 July.
In a letter to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi, Raut said, "It is to inform you that Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party has nominated Rajan Vichare, MP (LS) as the chief whip in Lok Sabha in place of Bhavana Gawali, MP (LS), with immediate effect," news agency PTI reported.
Gawali, an MP from Maharashtra's Yavatmal-Washim constituency, had said that the Sena should join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the Eknath Shinde-led rebellion last month.
On 4 July, Chief Minister Shinde had passed a floor test in the state Assembly with ease, winning the support of 164 MLAs and being opposed by 99. Eleven MLAs of the Congress and two of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had abstained from voting.
After the floor test, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis congratulated Shinde and said, "I've come back today and brought him (Shinde) along with me. I won't take revenge on people who mocked me. I'll forgive them, everything isn't taken to heart in politics."
Meanwhile, NCP leader Ajit Pawar was elected as the leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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