The writing appeared to be on the wall for Shiv Sena (UBT) as six of its nine Lok Sabha MPs skipped its parliamentary party meeting here on Thursday, signalling that a formal crossover to the ruling Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde may be only a matter of time.
Sena (UBT) MPs Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai and Rajabhau Waje attended the meeting, along with Sanjay Raut, the party's lone Rajya Sabha MP. The absence of the remaining six MPs all but confirmed a split in the party's parliamentary ranks.
The MPs who skipped the meeting are Nagesh Aashtikar, Sanjay Deshmukh, Sanjay Jadhav, Sanjay Dina Patil, Omprakash Rajenimbalkar and Bhausaheb Wakchaure.
Sources said all six dissident MPs have signed a letter seeking a merger with the Shinde-led Sena and submitted it to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
The process, however, is not yet complete, as the speaker's office is understood to require the physical appearance of some of the MPs for verification and that is "expected to happen in the coming days", they said.
The verification of signatures is currently underway, the sources added.
On Wednesday, Shiv Sena (UBT) issued a three-line whip directing its MPs to attend the meeting at 11 am on Thursday. The move was aimed at paving the way for possible disqualification proceedings against the rebel leaders.
Shiv Sena (UBT) has nine MPs in the Lok Sabha and at least six will have to switch sides together to escape disqualification under the anti-defection law.
"Action will be taken against those who violate the whip after consulting the party chief (Uddhav Thackeray)," Sawant told reporters ahead of the meeting.
However, sources in the Shinde camp disputed the validity of the whip, saying it can be issued under the Tenth Schedule (Anti-Defection Law) only for House proceedings, not internal party meetings.
"The courts have repeatedly held that while a political party can issue internal directions (including for meetings) as a matter of organisational discipline, non-compliance with such a whip has no Tenth Schedule consequence unless it concerns voting in the House," a Shinde camp functionary said.
According to the sources, Shinde arrived in Delhi late on Tuesday and returned to Mumbai on Wednesday. He was the principal architect of the split in the undivided Shiv Sena in 2022 that brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
On Wednesday, Sawant, Desai and Raut met Birla and urged him to guard against any unlawful defection.
"Under the law, one cannot simply merge with a party even if they have the support of two-thirds of the MPs. Only the original party can merge if a group has the required two-thirds strength," Desai had said.
