Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will take a decision on the political status of the 6 breakaway Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena MPs before the monsoon session begins, sources said here on Thursday.
The central government is expected to convene the monsoon session of the Parliament from July 21 to August 21.
On Wednesday, a delegation of Uddhav-led Shiv Sena MPs Anil Desai and Arvind Sawant met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and asked for a copy of any demands or representations submitted by the six rebel Uddhav-led Sena MPs who recently defected to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, but the Speaker told the Uddhav-led Sena delegation of MPs that no written communication has been received from the 6 rebel Uddhav-led Shiv Sena MPs so far.
The Lok Sabha Speaker also assured the Uddhav-led Shiv Sena delegation of MPs that he would verify the matter with his office and inform them if any written submission had been made by the 6 rebel Uddhav-led Sena MPs, sources said.
Later, the Uddhav Sena-led MPs urged the Speaker to ensure that constitutional provisions are strictly followed while dealing with the matter, sources said.
Uddhav-led Sena MP Anil Desai told the Speaker that, according to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, no group of a legislature party can merge with some other party on its own, even if they have a two-thirds majority.
The Uddhav-led Sena delegation pointed out to the Lok Sabha Speaker that protection under the Tenth Schedule is available only when two-thirds of the entire party merges with another political party, and not when merely some legislators defect individually or even as a group, sources said.
However, the 6 rebel Uddhav-led Sena MPs have maintained that the Constitution permits a merger when at least two-thirds of a legislature party agrees to it. They have insisted that since 6 of the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s 9 Lok Sabha MPs backed the move to defect, it meets the threshold required for a legally valid merger and is therefore protected from being disqualified under the anti-defection law or the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has also written a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker, urging him to act strictly in accordance with the Constitution.