Arvind Sawant's seating arrangement changed from 1st to 3rd row in Lok Sabha

The seating arrangement of Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant, who recently resigned as Union Minister, has been changed from the first row to the third row in Lok Sabha.

Other Shiv Sena MPs will be allocated new seats as soon as the seating arrangement in the Lok Sabha is finalised.

As the Shiv Sena pulled out of BJP-led government at the Centre over differences in government formation in Maharashtra, the seating arrangement of party MPs in Rajya Sabha was also changed earlier on Saturday.

Sources said that Shiv Sena MPs Sanjay Raut and Anil Desai will now sit in the opposition benches during the Winter Session of Parliament, beginning Monday. Shiv Sena has three MPs in the upper house of parliament.

However, Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi on Sunday said that Shiv Sena MPs are being allotted seats on the opposition side in both houses of Parliament as its minister has resigned and the party is "working out" alliance with the Congress and NCP to form a government in Maharashtra.

Speaking to media in Delhi, he said, "Shiv Sena is not coming for NDA meetings. Its minister Arvind Sawant has resigned. The party is trying to work out with Congress, so naturally, they have opted to sit in the opposition and we have agreed to that."

"We are allotting them a seat in opposition both in Lok Sabha and in Rajya Sabha," he added.

Sawant recently resigned from the BJP-led government after differences between two parties on power-sharing with the Shiv Sena insisting on a rotational chief minister.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar was given the additional charge of the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises after Sawant stepped down from the post citing moral grounds.

The trio - Shiv Sena, Congress and the NCP -- are making efforts to form a non-BJP government in Maharashtra where the President's Rule was imposed earlier this week. The three parties have prepared a draft for their common minimum programme (CMP).

The Shiv Sena and the BJP, who fought the polls together, could not form the government due to differences over power-sharing.

The BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the state with 105 seats in the 288-member assembly followed by Shiv Sena 56, NCP 54 and Congress 44.