Shiv Sena MPs being allotted seats on opposition side in Parliament: Joshi

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 government in Maharashtra, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Sunday.

Arvind Sawant, the lone Sena minister in the Union council of ministers submitted his resignation last Monday. The party said on Saturday that it would not attend a meeting of NDA constituents on the eve of the winter session of Parliament.

"Shiv Sena's minister has resigned from the NDA government they are not attending today's NDA meeting and working out alliance with the Congress and the NCP. So it is natural that they will be allotted seats on the opposition side in both houses," Joshi told reporters after the all-party meeting.

According to sources, all the three Shiv Sena MPs in the Rajya Sabha have been allocated seats on the opposition side, while in the Lok Sabha it is yet to be done.

The decades-old alliance between the Shiv Sena and BJP turned sour after the former pressed for the demand of sharing the chief ministerial post in Mahrashtra. It is now holding parleys with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress to form a non-BJP government in the state.