Uddhav Thackeray nominates Ambadas Danve for post of LoP in Maha Legislative Council

India

oi-Prakash KL

Mumbai,
Aug
08:
A
day
before
the
cabinet
expansion
of
the
Eknath
Shinde-led
Maharashtra
government,
Shiv
Sena
chief
Uddhav
Thackeray
on
Monday
nominated
party
MLC
Ambadas
Danve
for
the
post
of
the
Leader
of
Opposition
in
the
Maharashtra
Legislative
Council.

In
a
letter
to
the
chairman
of
the
Legislative
Council,
Thackeray
said
party
MLCs
had
authorised
him
to
nominate
a
candidate
for
the
post
of
LoP
in
a
meeting
on
July
9.

Danve
hails
from
Aurangabad,
a
district
which
has
four
rebel
Sena
MLAs.

Last
month,
a
delegation
of
Shiv
Sena
MLCs
Manisha
Kayande,
Sachin
Ahir,
Ambadas
Danve,
Vilas
Potnis
and
Sunil
Shinde
met
Legislative
Council
Deputy
Chairperson
Neelam
Gorhe
and
submitted
a
letter
regarding
the
LoP
and
chief
whip.
As
of
July
8,
the
78-member
Maharashtra
Legislative
Council
has
24
members
from
the
BJP,
12
from
the
Shiv
Sena
and
10
each
from
the
Congress
and
the
NCP.

Lok
Bharti,
Peasants
and
Workers
Party
of
India
and
Rashtriya
Samaj
Paksh
have
one
member
each.
There
are
four
Independents,
while
15
seats
in
the
Legislative
Council
are
vacant.
If
Danve
becomes
the
Leader
of
Opposition,
it
will
be
a
rare
instance
of
the
chief
minister
and
the
LoP
in
the
Legislative
Council
belonging
to
the
same
party
but
different
factions.
Nationalist
Congress
Party’s
Ajit
Pawar
is
the
Leader
of
the
Opposition
in
the
Assembly.