Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut
NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday accused Amit Shah of “insulting” the Uddhav Thackeray-led party, a day after the Union home minister asserted that the only Shiv Sena is the one headed by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde.”The more you insult Shiv Sena (UBT), the more the people of Maharashtra will rally against you,” Raut said, addressing Shah while speaking to reporters in Mumbai.He further asserted that there is only one Shiv Sena, and that it is led by Uddhav Thackeray.Speaking at a rally in Kolhapur on Saturday, Shah said, “Earlier, we had to refer to it as the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena. But now, there are no other factions left.”Founded by Uddhav Thackera’s father Bal Thackeray in 1966, the Shiv Sena split into two factions in June 2022 after Eknath Shinde rebelled against Uddhav, then the Maharashtra chief minister. While one faction is led by Uddhav, the other is headed by Shinde.In February 2023, the Election Commission recognised the Shinde-led faction as the official Shiv Sena and allotted it the party’s bow-and-arrow symbol. The Uddhav-led group was subsequently renamed Shiv Sena (UBT).Meanwhile, Shah’s remarks come at a time when six of Shiv Sena (UBT)’s nine Lok Sabha MPs are reportedly on the verge of joining the Shinde-led faction. To avoid disqualification under the anti-defection law, the rebel group would need the support of at least six MPs — two-thirds of the party’s strength in the Lok Sabha.The rebels’ reported strength of six MPs is exactly the threshold required to bypass the anti-defection law.Addressing the reports of another possible split, Raut claimed that some of the dissident MPs remain in touch with the party and are “scared” of the public backlash they could face in their constituencies. The Rajya Sabha member stated that discussions were underway with at least two of them and suggested the party was open to talks if the MPs believed they had made a “mistake.””Some MPs are still in touch. They are scared because of the anger in their constituency,” Raut told reporters.Speculation about a potential split gained traction after MPs Sanjay Dina Patil, Sanjay Deshmukh, Sanjay Jadhav, Bhausaheb Wakchaure, Nagesh Patil-Ashtikar and Omprakash Raje Nimbalkar skipped the Sena (UBT) parliamentary party meeting in Delhi on June 17, fuelling reports that they could join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.(With PTI inputs)
