NCP may stake claim to post of Leader of Opposition in council

NCP, too, has nine MLCs in the upper house, while the Congress has eight. Janata Dal United, Peasants and Workers Party and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha have one MLC each. The house has four independents and 21 seats are vacant, while ruling BJP has 22 MLCs. The legislative council is yet to elect a chairperson. Shiv Sena (UBT) Neelam Gorhe is the deputy speaker of the upper house.

With Sena (UBT) and NCP sharing an equal number, the NCP is likely to push forward its claim on the LoP post in the legislative council. NCP MLC Amol Mitkari said that the MVA had decided on the formula that the party with higher legislators would get the post.

“The number of MLCs supporting the NCP are more. Hence the party should stake claim to the post,” he said. However, leader of opposition in legislative assembly and NCP leader Ajit Pawar said that he had not looked into the matter yet. “Now that you have pointed this out to me, we will look into it,” he said.

Ridiculing any possibility of such a move, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said, “There are a number of other important issues in front of the MVA. We will focus on that.”