Six Uddhav Sena MPs skip party meeting amid speculation of defections

Six of the nine Lok Sabha MPs of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) skipped a meeting of its parliamentary party on Thursday amid speculation that they could defect to the rival faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, The Hindu reported.

The MPs who were absent from the meeting despite a party whip directing them to attend were Nagesh Aashtikar, Sanjay Deshmukh, Sanjay Jadhav, Sanjay Dina Patil, Omprakash Rajenimbalkar and Bhausaheb Wakchaure.

The meeting was attended by the other three Lok Sabha MPs of the Uddhav Sena and the party’s lone Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut.

Uddhav Sena MP Anil Desai said that the members who skipped the meeting will be issued a show cause notice, The Hindu reported.

Raut said that action will be taken against them if they do not respond to the notice within seven days, the Hindustan Times reported.

“Absent MPs have betrayed the party.” Raut was quoted as saying.

“You are still party members,” the Hindustan Times quoted Raut as having warned the absent MPs. “You won the election on our party’s name and symbol. If you violate the whip, legal action will follow.”.

The meeting was held a day after the Uddhav Sena alleged that its MPs were being offered Rs 15 crore each to join the Shinde-led faction.

Raut had initially said that reports of a breakaway group were “a lie” and stated that all MPs of the faction had recently “expressed faith” in party chief Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership.

However, Raut later alleged on social media that attempts were being made to induce MPs to switch sides. He claimed that the MPs were being offered Rs 50 crore to join rival parties, with Rs 15 crore being the “advance” payment.

Sawant had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla urging him not to entertain any claims seeking recognition of a separate group or merger involving MPs elected on the party’s symbol.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.