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Rise and rise of Rahul Narwekar: Sena to BJP; Colaba MLA to second-term Speaker

During his first term as Speaker, Narwekar had ruled that the Shinde faction was the “real” Sena; he had also ruled that the Ajit Pawar group was the “real” NCP.

An advocate by profession, Narwekar, then 45-year-old, became one of the youngest Assembly Speakers in the country. (Photo: X)

On July 1, 2022, when Rahul Narwekar was nominated by the BJP for the Speaker’s position in the Maharashtra Assembly, many in the state political circles had wondered why the party had picked a first-time MLA for the coveted post which is usually reserved for veteran legislators.

A day earlier then, the BJP had formed the government with the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde who had split his party after raising a banner of revolt against Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

The BJP was alleged to have played a key role in “engineering” this split in the Sena along with Shinde, which led to the collapse of the then Uddhav-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

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Narwekar was said to have been chosen by senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis for the Speaker’s position. An advocate by profession, Narwekar, then 45-year-old, became one of the youngest Assembly Speakers in the country.

Anticipating long-drawn legislative and legal battles with the Uddhav-led Sena faction, Fadnavis had “handpicked” Narwekar for the Speaker’s post in view of his “strong legal background”, BJP sources said.

On Monday, Narwekar was elected as the Speaker of the newly-constituted Maharashtra Assembly for the second consecutive term. In the recent Assembly polls, he was re-elected from the upscale Colaba seat in Mumbai.

On Sunday, when Narwekar filed his nomination papers for the Speaker’s office, his victory was a foregone conclusion. He was elected unopposed as the MVA decided not to put up any candidate with the numbers heavily tilted towards the ruling Mahayuti camp. The polls were swept by the Mahayuti which bagged 234 out of 288 seats as against the MVA’s 48.

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Narwekar started his political innings with the undivided Sena. He was the Shiv Sena youth wing spokesperson. By his own admission, he shared cordial relations with Uddhav and his son Aditya Thackeray.

After a 15-year-long association with the Sena, Narwekar quit the party in 2014 to switch to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP. He was an aspirant for a state Legislative Council seat which the Sena denied to him. The NCP fielded him in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the Maval constituency, but he lost.

Narwekar joined the BJP in the run-up to the October 2019 state Assembly elections. The BJP gave him ticket from Colaba, where he won. He was also appointed as the state BJP’s media in-charge.

His first term as the Speaker was especially challenging due to the splits in two key regional parties – the Shiv Sena and the NCP.

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In the wake of Eknath Shinde’s rebellion, the Uddhav group moved the Supreme Court seeking disqualification of the party MLAs affiliated to the Shinde faction, which also filed a counter-petition in the court.

In its verdict, the apex court directed the Speaker to decide on the rival Sena factions’ disqualification petitions.

In an interview with The Indian Express at that time, Narwekar had said, “It is a great responsibility and challenge. I will exercise my knowledge and experience and play fair. The decision will be purely on merit and facts without any partisan politics or prejudices.”

In January 2024, Speaker Narwekar gave his ruling, holding the faction led by Shinde as the “real Shiv Sena” and giving legitimacy to his claim on the party.

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In July 2023, Ajit Pawar rebelled against Sharad Pawar and crossed over to the Mahayuti coalition along with his MLAs to join its government.

On February 15, 2024, deciding on the NCP groups’ disqualification petitions against each other, Narwekar ruled that the Ajit faction was the “real NCP”.

Earlier this year, Narwekar’s name had done the rounds as a possible BJP nominee for the Lok Sabha polls, but after weighing all options the party decided against shifting him to Delhi. This underlined his importance as the Speaker for the BJP.

Narwekar belongs to a political family. His father Suresh Narwekar was a former councillor of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). His brother Makarand is a second-term BMC councillor. His sister-in-law Harshata is also a BMC councillor. He is the son-in-law of NCP leader and ex-Legislative Council chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar.