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By:

Quad Najmi and PTI

17 June 2026 at 5:11:32 pm

Uddhav faces another rebellion; decision today

Six Lok Sabha MPs trying to move away; picture may be clear at today’s Parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi AI generated image Mumbai: A cloak-and-dagger crisis engulfing the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has landed at the door of the Lok Sabha Speaker, with the party urging him to guard against any unlawful defection and issuing a whip directing its MPs to attend a meeting in Delhi on Thursday. Amid the escalating crisis, a group of rebel Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders is learnt to have met...

Uddhav faces another rebellion; decision today

Six Lok Sabha MPs trying to move away; picture may be clear at today’s Parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi AI generated image Mumbai: A cloak-and-dagger crisis engulfing the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has landed at the door of the Lok Sabha Speaker, with the party urging him to guard against any unlawful defection and issuing a whip directing its MPs to attend a meeting in Delhi on Thursday. Amid the escalating crisis, a group of rebel Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders is learnt to have met Speaker Om Birla informally on Wednesday, claiming the support of six of the party's nine MPs in the Lower House, sources said. Thursday's high-stakes meeting in Delhi will legally and physically define whether Uddhav Thackeray retains his parliamentary strength or faces another devastating party division, the third since Raj Thackeray split Shiv Sena in 2006. Sources in Sena (UBT) said the rival camp still doesn't have the support of six MPs. They claim two of the six rebels have reportedly changed their mind. In a swift counter-offensive to contain the damage, the party high command issued a mandatory three-line whip, summoning an emergency parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi on Thursday to force a physical showdown where the MPs will have to mark their presence physically. The developments triggered a day of high political drama in the national capital, marked by a furious, expletive-laden press conference by Raut, a reported counter-meeting by the rebel faction with Lok Sabha Speaker Birla, and sharp condemnation from the Congress. The internal fracture was visible at Sanjay Raut's press briefing, where only three other Lok Sabha MPs, Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai, and Rajabhau Waje, stood by him. The remaining six lawmakers were conspicuously absent; their exact whereabouts are unknown. The Sena (UBT) has nine MPs in the Lok Sabha, and at least two‑thirds of them would be required to form a separate group. Apart from Desai, Waje and Sawant, the other six MPs are Sanjay Patil, Sanjay Deshmukh, Omprakash Raje Nimbalkar, Bhausaheb Wakchaure, Nagesh Patil-Ashtikar and Sanjay Jadhav Not Reachable The six MPs stopped responding or became unavailable since Wednesday forenoon, after which the party stopped contacting them. They said when the party contacted Mumbai North East MP, Sanjay Dina Patil, he told party leaders that he was not with the rebel group. The party had asked them to submit a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker, which he has not submitted so far. Later in the day, sources claimed that the group of six rebel lawmakers had privately met the Lok Sabha Speaker to claim a two-thirds majority in the Lower House, the precise threshold required to escape disqualification under the anti-defection law. Simultaneously, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who split the undivided Shiv Sena in 2022, was reportedly camping in Delhi to oversee the operational layout of the defection of MPs. He returned to his home town Thane in Wednesday night. He is reportedly studying all the legal aspects before taking a final call before the party’s foundation day on Friday. Speaker’s Role Following reports of the rebels' move, a loyalist delegation consisting of Raut, Sawant, and Desai rushed to meet Speaker Birla to file a formal representation urging him to reject any unlawful group alignment. Desai argued that the legal provisions are strictly on the side of the original organisational structure. "Under the law, a splinter group cannot simply merge with another party on its own, even if they have two-thirds support. Only the original administrative party holds that right," Desai told reporters, adding that the Speaker assured them he would thoroughly examine every legal aspect before rendering a decision. The widening panic inside the party also triggered a public, familial disconnect involving missing Hingoli MP Nagesh Patil-Ashtikar. While the MP remained unreachable, his son, Krushna Patil Ashtikar, the MVA's official candidate for Thursday's Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, released a video statement strongly defending Uddhav Thackeray. "I am a Shiv Sainik of Uddhav Thackeray. There is no room for doubt when it comes to me," the younger Ashtikar stated.

BJP-Sena cold war may block Uddhav’s entry

Mumbai: The upcoming Legislative Council elections for 10 crucial seats are rapidly transforming into a volatile political battleground. What initially appeared to pass off as a routine democratic process like Rajya Sabha elections earlier this year is now increasingly shaping up as a fierce, silent competition for dominance between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. Simultaneously, this power struggle is casting a long shadow over the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi. The escalating tension has severely jeopardised Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray’s hopes of securing an unopposed entry into the Upper House.


Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam on Tuesday dropped a political bombshell that altered the election dynamics. He strongly indicated that his party is preparing to field an additional candidate. This calculated manoeuvre is explicitly designed to block Thackeray from an easy, uncontested victory. Nirupam did not mince words when discussing the opposition leadership. He drew a sharp and deliberate contrast between veteran leader Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray. Nirupam stated that no party should field a candidate against a senior and highly experienced statesman like Pawar. However, he bluntly dismissed Thackeray’s political stature. Nirupam remarked that Thackeray is simply not that great a leader to warrant an uncontested passage.


Political Arithmetic

To back up these aggressive claims, Nirupam outlined the ruling party’s strategic political arithmetic. He asserted that the Shiv Sena holds a comfortable margin of surplus votes even after securing the election of its two primary candidates. Furthermore, he revealed that party strategists are actively working behind the scenes. They are currently in intense negotiations with several smaller political factions and independent legislators. Nirupam expressed absolute confidence that mustering the required numbers for a third candidate would be an easy task. This aggressive posturing is a direct signal of the Shiv Sena’s intent to assert its independent political weight.


Adding fuel to this speculative fire is the potential nomination of former state minister Bachchu Kadu. Political circles are rife with rumours that the Shiv Sena plans to field Kadu as its surprise weapon. However, this potential candidacy is tangled in complex backroom bartering. Sources indicate that the Shiv Sena leadership has laid down a strict prerequisite for his ticket. They are demanding the complete merger of Kadu’s independent political outfit with the Shiv Sena. Kadu is known for his aggressive political style and has refused to back down easily.


Kadu has reportedly countered with a series of steep demands of his own. He is insisting on a guaranteed cabinet minister position within six months of his election to the council. Beyond the ministerial berth, Kadu is also demanding complete control over the party’s organizational affairs in the Vidarbha region. He has stipulated that any merger will only happen after these conditions are strictly met. This high-stakes negotiation highlights the lengths to which the Shiv Sena is willing to go to secure an extra seat.


BJP List

The ruling BJP on Tuesday announced the names of five candidates for the next month’s elections to the Legislative Council.


The party named Sunil Vinayak Karjatkar, Madhavi Naik, Sanjay Natthuji Bhende, Vivek Bipindada Kolhe and Pramod Shantaram Jathar as its nominees for the May 12 biennial polls.


Karjatkar is a veteran party worker, who acted as a strategist for some state elections in the past. He was once close to BJP leader late Pramod Mahajan.


Vivek Kolhe is the son of former party MLA Snehalata Kolhe. She did not contest the 2024 assembly polls as the Kopargaon assembly segment in Ahilyanagar district as it was allotted to ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).


Sanjay Bhende was in-charge of Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s Lok Sabha election in 2024, and is the chairperson of Nagpur Urban Cooperative Bank at present.


Madhavi Naik, general secretary of the state unit of the party, who hails from Thane is also nominated by the party for the Upper House of the state legislature. Pramod Jathar is from Sindhudurg and former MLA of the party.


The announcement comes ahead of the filing of nominations, the last date for which is April 30. Scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on May 2, while the last date for withdrawal of candidature is May 4.


Nine council members, including former chief minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, are retiring on May 13.

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