MAHARASHTRA Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will not be disqualified and in case that happens, he will be elected as an MLC and will retain his post. The Supreme Court on October 17 granted State Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar a final opportunity to give it a realistic timeframe for deciding the crosspetitions filed by rival factions of the Shiv Sena seeking disqualification of each other’s MLAs following a split in the party last year.

 

The apex court is scheduledto hear on Monday pleas filedby the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena and theSharad Pawar bloc of the NCP, seeking a direction to Narwekar to decide expeditiously disqualification petitions againstsome MLAs. Speaking to TV9 Marathi channel on Saturday, Fadnavissaid, “The first thing is thatShinde will not get disqualified. Even if he gets disqualified, we will get him elected himto the legislative council andhe will retain the chief minister’s post. The next election isgoing to be contested under hisleadership only.”