The Shiv Sena (UBT) has staked claim to the Leader of Opposition (LoP) post in the Maharashtra assembly and nominated senior MLA Bhaskar Jadhav for the cabinet-level position, party chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday.

A letter regarding the same was submitted to assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar.

“The Shiv Sena (UBT) has staked claim to the LoP post. We have given a letter to the speaker regarding this. We are confident that a decision will be taken considering democratic values,” Mr Jadhav said.

He said the decision should be taken before the budget session.

Mr Jadhav is a senior MLA from Guhagar. He represented the Shiv Sena in the 1990s, then moved to the NCP before rejoining the Shiv Sena in 2019.

Uddhav Thackeray also denied that there will be no rotation of the LoP’s post.

On Monday, the NCP SP had demanded that the LoP post should be on a rotational basis.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has 20 MLAs in the lower house, followed by the Congress (16) and NCP (SP) (10). So far, none of them has formally staked claim to the post.

As per precedents, an opposition party needs 10 per cent of the total seats (which comes to 28) to stake claim to the LoP post.

“But there is no such law (stipulating 10 per cent of total seats) or provision in the Constitution,” Bhaskar Jadhav had claimed on Monday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)