In a fresh blow to Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT), six of the party's nine Lok Sabha MPs are set to formally merge with Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena on Monday, in a defection that hands the Shinde camp the two-thirds parliamentary strength needed to shield the rebels from disqualification under anti-defection law.
Background: 'Operation Tiger'
The exit follows weeks of speculation around a covert operation codenamed "Operation Tiger," after the six MPs skipped a Sena (UBT) parliamentary party meeting in Delhi on June 18, defying a party whip. The six were reportedly moved at dawn from a Delhi hotel to a secure location in Jaipur to keep them out of reach of Uddhav Thackeray's emissaries, before dispersing across the country — to Tirupati, Varanasi, Ayodhya, Mumbai and Pune — to maintain a low profile.
The rebels approached Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking recognition as a separate group, citing ideological drift in the UBT and its growing proximity to Congress. Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray convened MLAs and MLCs at Shivalay in Nariman Point to try to hold the party together as the news broke.
Here is the list of the six MPs who are ready to shake the Thackray's fort:
Sanjay Dina Patil — Mumbai North East
A prominent face in Mumbai politics, Patil has previously served as an MLA before being elected to the Lok Sabha and is considered a key UBT leader in the city's suburban belt. He has been regarded as one of the more politically active leaders within the Thackeray camp, making his exit a notable dent in the party's Mumbai unit.
Sanjay Jadhav — Parbhani
A three-term MP and long-time loyalist of the Thackeray family, Jadhav, 56, began organisational work in Parbhani in the early 1990s as the Sena expanded into Marathwada. He won the Parbhani Assembly seat in 2004 and 2009 before being fielded for the Lok Sabha in 2014, retaining the seat in 2019 and 2024.
Parbhani had remained one of the few districts where the local unit stayed with Uddhav after the 2022 split, making Jadhav's likely departure especially significant. Speculation about his exit intensified after he told a public gathering, "I am with you today, cannot say about tomorrow," amid reported discontent over organisational changes within the party.
Sanjay Deshmukh — Yavatmal-Washim
A first-term MP known locally as "Sanjay Bhau," Deshmukh, 58, started out in the undivided Shiv Sena under Bal Thackeray and served as the party's Yavatmal district chief in 1998. He hails from Chicholi village in Digras from a farming family and built his network in the Digras-Darwha belt through educational and local institutions.
He defeated the Shinde Sena's Rajshree Patil to win his first Lok Sabha term in 2024, a rare Vidarbha victory for UBT after the 2022 split. Reports said suspicion over his intentions grew after he met Union minister and Shinde Sena leader Prataprao Jadhav shortly after skipping the June 18 meeting.
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Omraje Nimbalkar — Dharashiv (Osmanabad)
A second-term MP, 42, from a political family in Dharashiv district, Nimbalkar is the son of the late Pawanraje Nimbalkar, whose 2006 murder triggered a major political storm in Maharashtra. His uncle is former NCP leader Padmasinh Patil, while BJP leader Ranajagjitsinh Patil is his cousin.
He entered politics as an MLA from Osmanabad in 2009, lost the seat in 2014 but stayed with the party, then won the Osmanabad Lok Sabha seat in 2019 and retained it in 2024.
Bhausaheb Wakchaure — Shirdi
A 74-year-old second-term MP from Ahilyanagar district, Wakchaure first entered the Lok Sabha in 2009 from the newly delimited Shirdi seat, defeating the RPI's Ramdas Athawale. A grassroots leader known for raising issues of rural development, irrigation and farmers' concerns, he has switched political loyalties more than once during his career.
Nagesh Patil Ashtikar — Hingoli
A first-time MP, 49, from Hadgaon in Nanded district, Ashtikar rose through the cooperative sector, becoming chairman of the Hadgaon Agricultural Produce Market Committee in 2009 before entering electoral politics on a Sena ticket. He won the Hadgaon Assembly seat in 2014 and later contested and won the Hingoli Lok Sabha seat in 2024 by over a lakh votes.
He told the Tribune he had "gone from one Shiv Sena to another" without compromising his ideology, citing a lack of development funds and the MPLAD fund's limits as reasons for his decision, while denying any rift with Thackeray or Sanjay Raut personally.
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