Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Thursday sacked Sanjay Raut as the leader of its parliamentary party. Lok Sabha MP Gajanan Kirtikar has replaced Raut.
Chief Minister Shinde in a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, Shinde, informed that Kirtikar has been appointed as the leader of the Shiv Sena Parliamentary Party.
Of the 18 Shiv Sena members in the Lok Sabha, four have their loyalties with Uddhav Thackeray, who lost control of the party to Shinde.
Shiv Sena was split into two groups, the Uddhav Thackeray one and the Eknath Shinde. When most of the MLAs of Uddhav-led Sena joined Shinde camp, the government was toppled and a new government led by Shinde-led Sena and BJP came into existence.
Few weeks ago, the Election Commission recognised Eknath Shinde-led camp as the real Shiv Sena and also allotted the 'bow and arrow' symbol.
The Shiv Sena has three members in the Rajya Sabha – Sanjay Raut, Anil Desai and Priyanka Chaturvedi who owe their allegiance to Thackeray.
(With inputs from PTI)
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