"Play scripted long ago," Kapil Sibal on Maharashtra Speaker verdict

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal on Thursday said that the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker's decision on pleas demanding disqualification of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde faction's lawmakers was a "play scripted long ago."
"Speaker (as Tribunal): Shindes faction is the real Sena. The play was scripted long ago. We watch the farce being played out with no recourse. That is the tragedy of this 'mother of democracy'," Sibal posted on X.
Delivering a verdict on cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of rival group MLAs after a split in the party in June last year, Maharashtra Speaker Narwekar said on Wednesday that the "Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena when rival factions emerged".
The Speaker went into great length on the Shiv Sena constitution while delivering his crucial verdict and said "decision of Paksha Pramukh cannot be taken as decision of the political party".
"In my view, the 2018 leadership structure (submitted with ECI) was not as per the Shiv Sena Constitution. Shiv Sena party chief, as per the party Constitution cannot remove anyone from the party...Uddhav Thackeray removed Eknath Shinde or any party leader from the party as per the party Constitution. So the removal of Eknath Shinde by Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022 is not accepted based on the Shiv Sena Constitution," the Speaker said.
Criticising the Maharashtra Speaker's verdict on MLA disqualification pleas, former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the order was a murder of democracy and an insult to the decision of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court had last month asked Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to deliver his judgement on disqualification petitions filed by Shiv Sena factions of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray by January 10.