​​Dismiss rebel MPs if rule of law prevails: Uddhav Thackeray to Speaker

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday demanded that the six rebel MPs from his party be disqualified, warning the Lok Sabha Speaker that failure to act would amount to violating the Constitution.Addressing rallies in Parbhani and Dharashiv, Thackeray said his party has already written to Speaker Om Birla seeking action. “The rebel MPs cannot defect by merely achieving the two-thirds mark. Such a number is important when the party takes any stand and two-thirds of its members support it. If you (Speaker) do not follow the law, you will not be able to ask others to follow the law. History will record you as the Lok Sabha Speaker who violated the Constitution,” he said.Targeting the faction led by deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, Thackeray said they have “no future” and would be discarded by their ally. “They will be thrown away after being used by BJP,” he said.Stepping up his attack on BJP, Thackeray linked the alleged donation theft controversy at the Ayodhya Ram temple with the party’s politics around the shrine. “You didn’t want to build the temple; you wanted to open a shop to loot in the name of Ram.

The poor Hindu is naive; if you say ‘Jai Shri Ram’ to him, he forgets every issue. This is a crime not only against the country, but also against the Hindus of the world,” he said.Reiterating that the split in Shiv Sena was politically engineered, Thackeray alleged it was aimed at curbing the rise of certain BJP politicians. At the Dharashiv rally, he further accused BJP of poaching MPs from multiple parties to secure numbers for Constitutional changes.“I am ready to support BJP if it carries out military intervention in Manipur or makes PoK part of India,” he said, even as he lashed out at defectors. “Traitors have switched sides to cover up their sins and attract funds for personal development,” he said.