Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde and his rival, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, clashed on Friday on two separate occasions to mark the regional party’s 60th anniversary at the heart of an escalating defection drama with national implications.
Thackeray said he was ready to resign from his post if the party did not trust him even as Shinde hinted at more defections from the rival camp. None of the six rebel Lok Sabha MPs from the Shiv Sena (UBT) were present at any of the events.
Addressing his supporters at Shanmukhananda Hall in Sion, Thackeray stressed that he had not lost his determination to fight despite the challenges and attacks. “I will be happy if someone from the party ranks becomes the next Shiv Sena president, but I will not allow it to pass into the hands of thieves,” an emotional Thackeray said. “If the allegations against me are true, I am ready to step down. I have no desire to lead.”
Shinde Thackeray dared to take action against the six rebels and said that the defections were just a trailer for a longer film. “If you have guts do it, but our men will give a befitting reply… They abuse their MPs in the morning and take a different stand in the evening. When I left, I was threatened with an attack and told that I will have to pass through Worli (Aditya Thackeray constituency). A helicopter was kept ready for me, but I took the road and passed through Worli,” the deputy chief minister said.
Shinde was responding to Thackeray’s associates who said party workers would make it difficult for the rebel MPs to move in the state.
These developments came a day after the Shiv Sena (UBT) looked set to lose two-thirds of its strength in the Lok Sabha when six of its nine members in the House defied the party whip and skipped a parliamentary unit meeting on Thursday.
The party issued show-cause notices to the six MPs, who separately wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla saying they feared merging the party with the Congress. In a four-page letter, the six MPs proposed forming a separate caucus, the Shiv Sena leader said.
The rebels – Sanjay Jadhav (Parbhani), Bhausaheb Wakchwar (Shirdi), Sanjay Deshmukh (Yavatmal-Washim), Nagesh Patel Achtekar (Hingoli), Sanjay Dina Patel (North East Mumbai) and Umraji Nimbakar (Dharashiv) – are expected to merge with the Shiv Sena soon.
This is the third crisis in Maharashtra after vertical splits in the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party in 2022 and 2023. The developments come almost a week after 20 rebel Trinamool Congress lawmakers proposed merging with the little-known Indian National Citizens Party and backing the NDA, boosting the ruling coalition’s numbers in the Lok Sabha.
The drama in Maharashtra began three days ago when some Sena (UBT) MPs stopped communicating with party leaders. Despite the whip, only three Lok Sabha MPs — Arvind Sawant (South Mumbai), Anil Desai (South Central Mumbai) and Rajabhau Waje (Nashik) — and the lone Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Raut, attended the Sena’s (UBT) meeting in Delhi on Thursday.
In his speech, Thackeray blamed the BJP for the split and pointed out that his party had fought the Congress for decades, but the national party had never tried to end the Sena. “But the BJP, which has grown in Maharashtra thanks to the help of Shiv Sena and party founder Balasaheb Thackeray, is now trying to end our party,” he added.
“BJP’s greed for power is such that it has started dividing parties across the country. This anti-democratic policy of BJP is pushing the nation towards chaos. It will destroy our nation. To save the nation from BJP, the country now needs Operation Lotus,” Thackeray said. He also dismissed speculations about a merger with Congress.
In his speech, Shinde said that the Shiv Sainiks are the true heirs of Bal Thackeray. “We revolted and it was a huge blow. Everyone in the state blessed us and re-elected us.”
Shinde said there were no differences between him and CM Devendra Fadnavis. He said that the India bloc was sinking and that even after losing the elections, Rahul Gandhi remained the leader of the team. The deputy chief minister said parties like Shiv Sena (UBT), RJD and DMK faced electoral loss when they joined the Congress.
