MP Gajanan Kirtikar replaces Sanjay Raut as Shiv Sena’s parliamentary party leader

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena led by CM Eknath Shinde on Tuesday submitted a letter to Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi appointing Lok Sabha MP Gajanan Kirtikar as Sena parliamentary party leader.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut (Rajya Sabha) has been Sena parliamentary party leader so far. Shiv Sena leaders said Kirtikar was elected parliamentary party leader at a meeting of party MPs held last week.
Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale said, "The authority to appoint the parliamentary party leader is with CM Eknath Shinde, who is the Sena's chief leader. He has appointed MP Gajanan Kirtikar and has given a letter to the Union parliamentary affairs minister. We have started the process. The parliamentary party leader is the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. So all MPs, even in Rajya Sabha, will have to follow our whip. The Election Commission has given its decision (allotting the party name and poll symbol to the Shinde group), so all those who have won on the Shiv Sena name and symbol will have to follow this."
Shewale, who is Shiv Sena group leader in the Lok Sabha, also said, "No decision has been taken to issue any whip so far."
An MP from Mumbai North-West, Kirtikar was the Sena's 13th Lok Sabha MP to join the Shinde-led Sena. With Kirtikar's exit, the Uddhav faction was left with six MPs. Before the split, the Sena had a total of 19 LS MPs, 18 from Maharashtra and Kalaben Delkar from Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Last week, the Lok Sabha Secretariat allotted the Shiv Sena office in Parliament House to the Sena led by CM Shinde after EC's decision. A letter from Sunanda Chatterjee, deputy secretary in the Lok Sabha Secretariat, to Shewale stated that Room No. 128 in Parliament House had been allotted to the Shiv Sena party. Earlier, both Sena groups had been using the office, but now MPs from the Uddhav faction do not have an office in Parliament House.