Thursday, July 7 2005 19:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: In a show of strength, Shiv Sena today (July 7, 2005) paraded 52 of its MLAs, owing allegiance to party supremo Bal Thackeray, before the speaker of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Babasaheb Kupekar.

"The Speaker met each of the 52 MLAs individually. We expect a decision from him regarding the meeting held yesterday", newly elected leader of the party in the lower house Ramdas Kadam told reporters at the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai.

Kupekar had asked Shiv Sena MLAs to meet him amidst conflicting claims by Rane about the support enjoyed by him in the 63-member Sena Legislature Party.

The Shiv Sena had yesterday (July 6, 2005) elected Kadam, a senior party leader and a staunch supporter of Bal Thackeray, as leader of the party in legislative assembly replacing Rane.

The decision was taken in a meeting of party MLAs, which was attended by 51 of the 63 party MLAs.

After meeting the MLAs, Kupekar told reporters that he would give a ruling on the issue soon.

Earlier, expelled Sena leader Narayan Rane told reporters that he met Kupekar this morning and handed him a letter pointing out that his expulsion from Sena was illegal.

"As per the Sena constitution, seven days' notice has to be given before expelling a member. In my case, this rule was not followed," he claimed.

Rane said Sena MLAs not attending tomorrow's meeting of party legislators, convened by him in capacity as leader of Opposition, may lose their assembly membership.

The purpose of his visit to Delhi yesterday was to take legal advise from a senior counsel, Rane said.