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.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) staked claim to the Leader of Opposition (LoP) post in the Maharashtra assembly. The party chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said his party nominated senior MLA Bhaskar Jadhav for the cabinet-level position in the House. The development comes day after Sharad Pawar’s NCP, an ally of Thackeray’s Sena, demanded rotation in LoP.
Thackeray made it clear that there 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.
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.
Who is Bhaskar Jadhav?
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.
Sharad Pawar’s NCP presses for rotational LoP
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).
(With PTI inputs)
