Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Tuesday defended his decision to recognise Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's faction as the real Shiv Sena, and asserted that his actions were based on the guidelines provided by the Supreme Court.

He spoke to the media here immediately after Thackeray, at a press conference, attacked his January 10 ruling on disqualification petitions filed by both Shinde and Thackeray camps against each other's MLAs following a split in the party in June 2022.

The speaker also justified his decision not to accept the undivided Shiv Sena's amended constitution of 2018. The party had then informed the Election Commission only about Uddhav Thackeray being the party chief but not submitted the amended constitution, he said.

In his ruling, Narwekar held that the Sena's 1999 constitution was the valid one for deciding which faction was the real Shiv Sena.

"My actions were based on the Supreme Court's guidelines," he said.

Rules framed by a party should not just be on paper but must be implemented, Narwekar further said.

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