Twelve Sena MPs rebel against Uddhav Thackeray, given special Y-category security

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• Jul 19, 2022 | Poonam Nath

Sources say a dozen Shiv Sena MPs are in contact with Eknath Shinde and may form a different group in the Lok Sabha.

Digital Desk: Uddhav Thackeray will soon begin losing his MPs as he witnesses hordes of Shiv Sena leaders defecting to the opposing faction headed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

According to sources, a dozen Shiv Sena MPs are in contact with Eknath Shinde and may form a different group in the Lok Sabha. This coincides with the Chief Minister's trip to Delhi to meet with the BJP leadership to discuss the Maharashtra cabinet.

The Sena group will be led by the party's Mumbai South Central MP Rahul Shewale; the MPs wrote to Speaker Om Birla last night to let him know.

The group may also appoint a chief, which Yavatmal MP Bhavana Gawli is expected to accept. She was recently removed as Chief leader by Uddhav Thackeray for anti-party activities and replaced by Rajan Vichare, but the Speaker has made no official decision.

The Shiv Sena has 19 Lok Sabha members, 18 of whom are from Maharashtra.

According to Shinde Sena sources, 12 of these 19 MPs met virtually on Monday with Eknath Shinde. They expressed their support while expressing faith and confidence in the rebel leader whose faction now dominates the party founded by Uddhav Thackeray's father, Bal Thackeray.

At the same time, the 12 MPs were assigned Y-category security.

Only after the Speaker rules on their request to be recognized as a separate group will the MPs lay claim to the Shiv Sena's official symbol.

The Shiv Sena's majority MLAs joined Eknath Shinde last month, toppling Uddhav Thackeray's coalition government. Mr. Shinde formed a coalition government with the BJP, allowing him to stage a successful coup against his party's leader.

Uddhav Thackeray broke with his alliance partners last week and declared support for the BJP's presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu following a meeting with his MPs. The opposition parties claimed that Mr. Thackeray, who was humiliated and alone, had no choice but to concur with his MPs.

The Supreme Court's ruling on several cases about the Shiv Sena uprising, which may or may not determine the Shiv Sena's leader, is now being awaited by Mr. Thackeray and Mr. Shinde.

Also Read: Presidential Elections are over, Draupadi Murmu heads a step closer to Rashtrapati Bhavan