Rahul Shewale to be leader of Shiv Sena in Lok Sabha, Bhavana Gawali to remain chief whip

New Delhi [India], July 19 (ANI): Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday accepted the demand of the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena to change the party leader in the House. Now the leader of Shiv Sena in the house will be Rahul Shewale. Bhavana Gawali has been retained as the Chief Whip, said sources.
Earlier today, 12 Lok Sabha members of the Shiv Sena met the Lok Sabha Speaker and requested him to change the leader of the party in the lower house of Parliament.
Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shawale said that a letter to change the party leader in the lower house of the parliament has been sent to Lok Sabha speaker as he will be giving recognition to the party, once legal actions are taken.
Shawale told ANI, "We are the internet process of the party and there is no split in the party. Shiv Sena is Shiv Sena. The party was angry with our leader Vinayak Raut. He was not supportive at all and that's why we have demanded to replace him."
He said that surely in the coming days the speaker will give recognition, whatever is prescribed of the party, and the spirit of the party will remain the same.
Rahul further said, "We will be with NDA in the house. We have not come out of NDA yet. When Arvind Sawant had resigned, he had resigned from the cabinet. The letter from Shiv Sena to exit NDA has not been given yet."
Currently, Shiv Sena has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha, out of which 12 are supporting Eknath Shinde. (ANI)