Six Shiv Sena (UBT) parliamentarians are likely to meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in Delhi to submit a letter to form a separate group, even as the party’s parliamentary chief Arvind Sawant issued a whip asking all nine Lok Sabha members and one Rajya Sabha member to attend the meeting on Thursday. Sawant wrote to Birla asking him not to recognize any splinter group of Shiv Sena parliamentarians (UBT).
People familiar with the matter said Shiv Sena (UBT) parliamentarians Sanjay Jadhav, Bhausaheb Wakchor, Sanjay Deshmukh, Nagesh Patil Ashtekar, Sanjay Patel and Umraji Nimbalkar are likely to meet in Delhi on Wednesday before meeting Birla and submitting the letter. Jadhav is likely to be elected as the leader of the new group before it is merged with the Shiv Sena faction led by Shinde. The six lawmakers were at an undisclosed location in Delhi, while Shinde was also in the national capital.
Shinde replaced Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister of Maharashtra with the help of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the split of the Shiv Sena in June 2022. He was appointed deputy chief minister when the BJP-led coalition returned to power in Maharashtra in 2024.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) is on the verge of a split, days after 20 MPs from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) defected and allied themselves with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). These developments come at a time when the National Democratic Alliance government is keen to approve the draft border demarcation law. The NDA lacks the necessary 46 members to obtain a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha. The TMC played a major role in defeating the Constitutional Amendment Bill to demarcate boundaries earlier this year.
Those who do not attend the meeting as per the party whip will face legal action, the Shiv Sena (UBT) said. “Our parliamentary party president Arvind Sawant has asked all 10 MPs [members of Parliament] “To attend a meeting of the Shiv Sena (UBT) parliamentary party at 11 am on Thursday,” Rajya Sabha Shiv Sena (UBT) member Sanjay Raut said at a press conference in Delhi.
“All the nine MPs have been elected on the basis of the Shiv Sena (UBT) symbol and in the name of Uddhav Thackeray. They have no right to betray the party. This time, people will not tolerate. There will be a reaction,” he said.
He added that the rebel MPs were transported on chartered planes. “I received a call from an important person who said that each of the representatives was before him $50 crores to leave the party. $Rs 15 crore was given as advance. “I have been told that MPs are not willing to sit in chartered planes until they get an advance,” Raut said.
The BJP has maintained that it has nothing to do with the possible split in the Shiv Sena (UBT). We don’t know anything about it,” said Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Chandrashekhar Pawankole.
On Tuesday, Sawant wrote to Birla, saying the Shiv Sena (UBT) continues to be recognized as a single political party represented in the House through its duly empowered leader and whip. “…No separate recognition, status, privilege or facilities are given to any alleged faction or splinter group claiming to represent the party,” he wrote.
No decision should be taken on any such demand, if received, without first allowing the Shiv Sena (UBT) to make its demands, Sawant said.
