MUMBAI: After six Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha MPs skipped the party’s parliamentary meeting, the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction on Thursday initiated disciplinary proceedings against the rebel MPs.
Shiv Sena (UBT) has treated the absence of the six rebel MPs as a violation of the party whip and initiated disciplinary proceedings, giving them seven days to respond to the notice or face strict action.
The six MPs facing action are Sanjay Dina Patil (Mumbai North-East), Sanjay Deshmukh (Yavatmal-Washim), Nagesh Patil Ashtikar (Hingoli), Sanjay Jadhav (Parbhani), Bhausaheb Wakchaure (Shirdi) and Omprakash alias Om Raje Nimbalkar (Dharashiv/Osmanabad).
Earlier, all six MPs attended a meeting convened by Uddhav Thackeray at Matoshree on Sunday. Four were present in person, while the remaining two attended online. Amid growing speculation over their possible defection, the MPs had assured the party leadership that they would remain loyal to Shiv Sena (UBT) and would not desert it.
Of the party’s nine Lok Sabha MPs, only three attended the parliamentary party meeting in Delhi. All three are considered loyalists of Uddhav Thackeray and have reaffirmed their commitment to remain with him.
"Three Lok Sabha MPs were present - Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai and Rajabhau Waze. Though I am a Rajya Sabha member, I attended because it was an important meeting for the party," Raut said.
He said the absence of the six MPs would be treated as a violation of the party's directions and as disobeying the party's orders.
He further added that the process of taking action against them has already begun.
“The show-cause notices would be issued to them, and they will be asked to explain their conduct and why they were absent from the meeting and why no action should be taken against them,” Sanjay Raut said.
He indicated that the party would subsequently pursue disqualification proceedings against the rebel MPs.
"We will move in the direction of getting their membership cancelled," he said.
The development marks a significant escalation in the political battle triggered by the alleged 'Operation Tiger', under which the Shinde camp is attempting to engineer a split in the Shiv Sena (UBT)'s parliamentary wing.
The revolt of six Shiv Sena (UBT) is a major setback to Uddhav Thackeray, as the earlier revolt by Eknath Shinde has damaged the party structure.
This present revolt will weaken the party structure and deepen the fault line within Shiv Sena (UBT). More poaching operations like Operation Tiger will be initiated to poach the Shiv Sena (UBT) MLAs and Corporators in the near future.
