Shinde group seeks separate hearings of Sena disqualification pleas, Thackeray faction disagrees

As Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar on Thursday heard the disqualification petitions filed by rival Shiv Sena factions led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray, the Shinde group sought separate hearings.

The Uddhav-led faction, however, insisted that there was no need for hearing the petitions separately as the reason behind all the pleas was the same.

While Narwekar had earlier started the process to hear the pleas, the first actual hearing – of disqualification pleas against Shinde and 15 other MLAs – was held at Vidhan Bhavan on Thursday, according to counsels who represented the warring sides.