Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has recognised Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale as the party’s leader in the Lower House of Parliament, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Tuesday, according to PTI.

Earlier in the day, 12 out of 19 Shiv Sena MPs had joined the party’s faction led by Shinde and submitted a letter to Birla demanding that they be identified as a separate group, The Print reported. The chief minister’s son Shrikant Shinde was among the legislators who met the Lok Sabha Speaker.

“Some of us had expressed our unhappiness to [Shiv Sena chief and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray] and told him that we wished for the party to ally with the BJP,” Hemant Godse, one of the twelve MPs, said.

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On Monday, Raut had written to Birla asking him not to entertain any representation from the Shinde-led faction.

The developments come in the backdrop of a similar split among Shiv Sena MLAs in Maharashtra.

In June, Shinde had rebelled against the Maha Vikas Aghadi government – a coalition of Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party. He was supported by 40 out of Shiv Sena’s 55 MLAs.

Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister of Maharashtra on June 30, while the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Devendra Fadnavis took oath as his deputy. On July 4, Shinde won a floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly. He got 164 votes in his support, significantly above the majority mark of 145, while 99 MLAs voted against him.

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Two petitions have been filed by Thackeray in the Supreme Court after his government was overthrown.

He has challenged the Assembly proceedings during the floor test, arguing that 16 rebel MLAs against whom disqualification proceedings are pending should not have voted.

Thackeray has also challenged Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari’s decision to invite rebel Shinde to form the government in Maharashtra in June.

On June 11, the Supreme Court asked Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to not take any decision on disqualifying Shiv Sena MLAs.

Maharashtra Legislature Secretary Rajendra Bhagwat has issued showcause notices to 53 Shiv Sena MLAs. Forty of the notices have been sent to the Shinde-led faction and the other 13 have been sent to the Thackeray-led group.