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Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Maharashtra president Jayant Patil was quick to petition Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar seeking disqualification of nine party leaders, including Ajit Pawar, who on Sunday took oath to become ministers in the BJP-Shiv Sena (Shinde) government.
However, few expect the reply from Narwekar to be as quick.
For a year now, Narwekar has been sitting on a petition moved by the Uddhav Thackeray Sena against 16 MLAs of the united Shiv Sena who defected with Eknath Shinde to form the government with the BJP. It’s been more than a month since the Supreme Court directed Narvekar to take a decision, without the Speaker showing any visible movement on the issue.
On May 11, a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court had refused to interfere in the disqualification proceedings against the 16 Sena MLAs, including Chief Minister Shinde, saying that the Speaker must decide on the same within “a reasonable period”.
The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, including the Uddhav Sena, Congress and NCP, have all along alleged that Narwekar was delaying the matter in order to “safeguard” CM Shinde and his MLAs.
While the SC verdict was limited to the 16 rebel Sena MLAs, Narwekar has said that he is hearing the disqualification pleas against 54 MLAs of the original undivided Sena, which were filed by both the factions of the Sena against each other during the July 2022 crisis within the party.
This, the Opposition charged, was “another delaying tactic”.
On Monday, Narwekar said he would take “appropriate action” on the NCP’s plea against Ajit Pawar and eight party MLAs. Asked how many NCP MLAs were supporting Ajit Pawar, he said, “I have no information about it.”
While the NCP on Sunday appointed Jitendra Awhad as the new Leader of the Opposition, replacing Ajit Pawar, Narwekar asserted that it was his prerogative to decide on one.
A year ago, few would have expected Narwekar to come to be the man holding the key to the fortunes of both the Opposition and the government in Maharashtra.
A first-time MLA, the 46-year-old had been named the Speaker by the BJP soon after it formed the government with the Shinde Sena, picking him over more experienced names.
Narwekar’s name was also a surprise as he is relatively new to the BJP. An advocate by profession, he was – ironically – associated with both the Sena and the NCP earlier, and joined the BJP only in the run-up to the 2019 Assembly elections. He won from the upmarket Colaba constituency in South Mumbai.
Narwekar quit the Sena after a 15-year-long association, reportedly after being turned down for a Legislative Council seat in 2014. The NCP took him on readily and, in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Narwekar was fielded from Maval constituency by the party.
By 2019, Narwekar was in the BJP.
BJP insiders said he was chosen as Speaker “because he is well-versed with legal and legislative complexities. In the current political scenario, his expertise will help in conducting the state Assembly”. Party sources said Narwekar’s experience of working with different parties also counted.
Besides, Narwekar’s family links to politics go back. He is the son-in-law of senior NCP leader Ramraje Nimbalkar, the former chairman of the Legislative Council. His father Suresh Narwekar was a councillor in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, and both his brother Makarand and sister-in-law are currently councillors.
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