In a major jolt to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, the Maharashtra Legislature Secretariat on Sunday has conveyed to rebel leader Eknath Shinde, who is now CM, that he will continue to be the Shiv Sena Legislative Party leader and Bharat Gogawale as the chief whip.

The Secretariat has cancelled the appointments of Ajay Chaudhary as the legislative party leader and Sunil Prabhu as Chief whip.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde has his next test set for Monday with the trust vote after he successfully led a rebellion to topple the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government. His first test was on Sunday, but Shinde won big as the BJP’s Rahul Narvekar was elected the speaker during the special two-day session of legislative assembly.

Four days old, the brand new Shiv Sena-BJP government will now face the floor test on the second day of the special assembly session. Earlier in the day, however, after the Eknath Shinde-led Sena faction sealed the Vidhan Sabha, Narvekar and former CM Uddhav Thackeray-backed candidate Rajan Salvi went head to head. Narvekar, a first-time MLA, is the youngest ever assembly speaker in the country.

(With inputs from agencies)