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India politics: Maharashtra’s Shiv Sena crisis deepens as 6 MPs move to rival faction
The six MPs have two-thirds majority (of the total nine UBT MPs), and could not be disqualified under the anti-defection law. Sanjay Raut described them as “traitors and dishonest”
- PUBLISHED: Thu 18 Jun 2026, 5:20 PM
The crisis in Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) continued on Thursday, with just three members of parliament (MPs) attending a key meeting in Delhi, despite a ‘whip’ having been issued.
Sanjay Raut, Thackeray’s key lieutenant, described the six who backed out as “traitors and dishonest”, and said they were being offered hefty sums to switch sides.
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According to media reports, the six ‘rebels’ arrived in Delhi in the early hours of Thursday, flying in private jets. They then reportedly met Lok Sabha (lower house of Indian parliament) speaker Om Birla and submitted a letter informing him they had quit the UBT and were merging with Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, the powerful deputy chief minister in the BJP-led government in Mahatrashtra. As the six MPs had two-thirds majority (of the total nine UBT MPs), they could not be disqualified under the anti-defection law.
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Raut alleged that the rebels had been paid huge sums in advance to back the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. UBT sources also revealed that two of the rebels – Omraje Nimbalkar and Sanjay Dina Patil – were not backing the move and would continue with the party.
The move by the six UBT MPs comes close on the heels of a similar rebellion by 20 Trinamool Congress parliamentarians, who quit former chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s party – trounced by the BJP in the recent West Bengal polls – and merged with a little-known party to extend their support to the NDA. The TMC had 28 MPs in the Lok Sabha (however, one member died, reducing it to 27), and with 20 backing the NDA, her numbers have dwindled.
Similar moves have also been initiated in Uttar Pradesh, where Om Prakash Rajbhar, a minister in the BJP government and leader of a small party, has referred to a possible breakup in the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Keshav Prasad Maurya, the state’s deputy chief minister, told reporters Thursday that about “25 SP MPs are ready to break away.” But SP chief Akhilesh Yadav rubbished such claims. "Dana aur gana kab tak chalega yeh afsana (how long will their 'benefits and songs' continue)," he wondered in an interaction with the media.
Crucial elections to the UP state assembly are due early next year. The BJP came to power in 2017 after a 15-year gap. The party, with Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister, which led the NDA, won 273 of the 403 seats in the assembly. The SP came second with 125 legislators.
With major upheavals in the opposition ranks in three key states in India – Maharashtra, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh – the coming days are likely to see a lot of changes in the country’s political landscape.
