Shiv Sena UBT Crisis, Maharashtra Politics LIVE Updates: In a significant political setback for Uddhav Thackeray, six of the nine Lok Sabha MPs belonging to Shiv Sena (UBT) will join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on June 21, sources told CNN-News18.
On Thursday, the rebels formally aligned with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, marking the biggest parliamentary split in the party since the 2022 rebellion.
The move gives the Shinde faction an overwhelming majority among the party’s Lok Sabha MPs and further weakens the Uddhav camp’s presence in Parliament.
Amid ‘Operation Tiger’, a mass defection of UBT parliamentarians to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has pushed the party to the brink, manifesting in open hostility, missing MPs, and threats of legal action.
The crisis reached a flashpoint on Thursday in New Delhi, when a mandatory parliamentary party meeting convened by party leadership saw a stark display of division.
Out of the party’s nine Lok Sabha MPs, only three–Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai, and Rajabhau Waje–attended the meeting called by party whips. The remaining six–Nagesh Aashtikar, Sanjay Deshmukh, Sanjay Jadhav, Sanjay Dina Patil, Omprakash Rajenimbalkar, and Bhausaheb Wakchaure–remained conspicuously absent.
In response, the UBT faction moved swiftly to assert authority. Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut announced that show-cause notices have been issued to the six absentees, initiating the formal process for their disqualification from the Lower House.
