Mangaluru (TIP): Six out of nine Lok Sabha MPs from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) (Shiv Sena (UBT)) faction skipped a crucial parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi on Thursday (June 18). This open step of defiance has triggered widespread speculation of an imminent split and potential merger with the rival Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. This merger, known in the political circle as “Operation Tiger” is the second time in four years.
Only three Lok Sabha MPs, Arvind Sawant (Mumbai South), Anil Desai (Mumbai South Central), and Rajabhau Waje (Nashik), attended the meeting. Besides them Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut was also present at the meeting.
The meeting was called urgently amid growing speculations that the MPs are planning to jump ships. The six absent MPs are Sanjay Dina Patil (Mumbai North East), Sanjay Deshmukh (Yavatmal-Washim), Nagesh Patil Ashtikar (Hingoli), Omraje Nimbalkar (Dharashiv/Osmanabad), Sanjay Jadhav (Parbhani) and Bhausaheb Wakchaure (Shirdi).
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Raut said the parliamentary party meeting had been convened by Lok Sabha floor leader Arvind Sawant and chief whip Anil Desai. He said the absence of the six MPs will be treated as a violation of the party’s directions.
“It amounts to disobeying the party’s orders. They (MPs who were absent) will be issued show- cause notices and explanations will be sought from them,” Raut said. Media reports indicate that the six MPs have submitted a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking recognition as a separate group and have signalled plans to align with the Shinde faction. This move, if completed, would leave Uddhav Thackeray’s group with only three Lok Sabha MPs.
Soon after the meeting, Sena (UBT) parliamentary party leader Arvind Sawant told media that the party would issue show-cause notices to the six MPs and they would be given “seven days to explain their absence before further legal action”.
Shiv Sena (UBT) has initiated steps to seek their disqualification under anti-defection rules, treating the absence as defiance of a party whip. But the issue of applicability of whip outside House proceedings (as this was a parliamentary party meeting and not a proceeding inside the House) is still pending before the Supreme Court.
The development comes nearly four years after the June 2022 split in Shiv Sena, when Eknath Shinde led a rebellion that brought down the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra. Despite the split, and with several senior leaders quitting the party, the UBT faction had secured nine seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The rebel MPs have maintained silence so far but several media reports have claimed that a formal announcement will possibly be made around June 20. The speculation about another imminent split in the Shiv Sena (UBT) comes days after 20 rebel MPs of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) announced that they would merge with the obscure Nationalist Citizens’ Party of India (NCPI) and support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the Centre.
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