The spotlight has not escaped Rahul Narwekar since he took over the post of the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on July 3, 2022. Narwekar was elected Speaker days after Eknath Shinde took over as Chief Minister after the rebellion that split the undivided Shiv Sena. Both the factions of the Sena — the one led by Shinde, and the other by Uddhav Thackeray – had accused each other of defying the party’s whip over the election of a Speaker and the trust vote on July 4, 2022. They then went on to seek disqualification of the MLAs from the opposite side. In May 2023, the Supreme Court ruled the Shinde faction as the official Sena and gave the responsibility of deciding on the disqualification petitions of MLAs — 34 in total — from the two rival Senas to Narwekar. The SC has since pulled up Narwekar several times and set a deadline for him to pronounce a verdict on the issue. Two deadlines have passed. Now, the verdict is likely to come by 4 pm, Wednesday (January 10), the final deadline set by the top court. Even 24 hours before the final deadline, the controversies continued. Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray, which had earlier alleged Narwekar of favouring the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, approached the SC objecting to a meeting between Narwekar and Shinde just days before the court’s deadline. As we await 4 pm, on Wednesday, and after the verdict is given, Narwekar’s role in the saga of the Senas will be discussed and debated upon. And coming just months ahead of Maharashtra’s Assembly polls, the decision will have wide-ranging implications. Narwekar’s rise Narwekar’s family is well-entrenched politically, having played a role in the local administration in Mumbai’s Colaba areas. His father-in-law is senior NCP leader and former Legislative Council chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar. Narwekar had a prominent stint in the Sena, as the party’s face on English television media, and as a confidant of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray. Aaditya once mentioned their proximity in a speech in the Assembly. In 2014 though, Narvekar quit the Sena to join the NCP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. He was fielded by the NCP from the Maval parliamentary seat. He lost but was subsequently accommodated with a Legislative Council seat. Then, in a surprise move in 2019, he joined the BJP. The party gave him the Colaba ticket, sidelining loyalists like Raj Purohit. He won the seat by over 57,000 votes. In December 2022, he had an altercation with NCP state president Jayant Patil after the latter accused Narwekar of not letting him speak in the House. At the time, Patil was suspended for the entire Winter Session of the Assembly after he said Narwekar should “not behave like a shameless person”. The Congress had also moved a no-confidence motion against Narvekar, accusing him of being partisan in House proceedings. Narwekar was also rumoured to be preparing for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the South Mumbai constituency — news he has so far denied. Since Narvekar’s appointment as Speaker, the Opposition has on multiple occasions accused him of taking instructions from the ruling side, especially Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
