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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.

Third Horizon

Mumbai has always grown by shedding its skin. From the original seven islands to the sprawl of Navi Mumbai, the city’s history is one of outward leaps to relieve inward pressure. The proposed ‘Third Mumbai’ project, the brainchild of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, is perhaps most ambitious of these expansions. Spread across more than 320 sq. km in Raigad, it promises to turn 124 villages in Uran, Panvel and Pen into a new economic frontier. The question is not whether Mumbai needs such an outlet. It plainly does. The question is whether it can be built without repeating the mistakes of the past.


On paper, the project is alluring. Anchored by the Navi Mumbai International Airport and the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, and bolstered by plans for a parallel Pune-Mumbai expressway and water transport, Mumbai 3.0 aims to create a logistics and services hub with global ambitions. The blueprint reads like a planner’s wish list and includes data centres, fintech clusters, an ‘Edu City,’ mixed-use neighbourhoods and transit-oriented development. In a region where congestion chokes productivity and real estate prices exclude all but the wealthy, the promise of a planned, polycentric city is hard to resist.


Yet Indian urbanisation has often stumbled not in vision but in its execution, especially where land is concerned. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s (MMRDA), which recently announced a land acquisition blueprint, is offering landowners a menu of options: cash compensation, Transferable Development Rights (TDR), Floor Space Index (FSI), or a 22.5 percent of developed land.


The rhetoric, emphasising “participatory” and “people-centric” development, reflects a shift away from the heavy-handedness that has marred earlier projects. If done in this spirit, it will be eminently sensible politics. It is also sound economics.


Still, voluntariness in land acquisition is a delicate claim. Social pressure, information asymmetry and unequal bargaining power can blur the line between consent and compulsion. Farmers, asked to submit Aadhaar-linked documents and navigate online consent systems, may find themselves at a disadvantage against a well-oiled bureaucracy.


Officials say mangroves, forests and Coastal Regulation Zone areas will be avoided. In a region as ecologically fragile as coastal Maharashtra, that is necessary but not sufficient. The cumulative impact of large-scale urbanisation on water tables, flood patterns and biodiversity rarely respects neat administrative boundaries. Mumbai’s own recent history of flooding offers a cautionary tale of what happens when development outruns ecological prudence.


Then there is the familiar risk of speculative urbanism. Grand plans often promise inclusive growth but deliver enclaves for the affluent. That said, the inclusion of both luxury and affordable housing, and the emphasis on transit-oriented design, are encouraging.


Mumbai’s economic gravity demands new space. Third Mumbai could, if executed well, relieve pressure on the island city, deepen regional integration and create a template for more rational urban growth in India. 


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