Six Shiv Sena UBT Lok Sabha MPs Move Towards NDA, Party Issues Show-Cause Notices

Six Shiv Sena UBT Lok Sabha members have moved towards the NDA. They did not attend a party meeting called by parliamentary leadership. The party has issued show-cause notices to the absent MPs. Action will be sought against them. This development weakens the INDIA bloc in Parliament. The party vows to continue the fight.

New Delhi: The six Sena UBT members of the Lok Sabha jumping ship and sailing towards the NDA shores became clear on Thursday when only the remaining three party MPs turned up at a meeting the parliamentary party leadership convened at the Parliament House.

Stung by the development, Sena UBT parliamentary party leader Sanjay Raut and party leader in the Lok Sabha Arvind Sawant said the absentee MPs have been served show-cause notices and that the party will also petition the Speaker for action against them.

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However, given that the six absentees account for two-thirds of party's LS members, they could duck the provisions of the anti-defection rules. The UBT MPs' switch over within days of about 20 TMC MPs' desertion further depletes the INDIA bloc strength in Parliament.

The MPs who kept off the meeting were B Wakchaure, Sanjay Jadhav, Sanjay Patil, Sanjay Deshmukh, Nagesh Patil and Omprakash Raje Nimbalkar. The development came on the eve of the Shiv Sena foundation day on Friday, to be marked by parallel shows by the two rival factions in Mumbai.

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"We had a meeting of the parliamentary party. Three of our Lok Sabha MPs - Rajabhau Waje, Arvind Sawant and Anil Desai - attended it. We have issued show-cause notices to the other MPs who did not come; they have been given seven days to respond to the notice. The process has been initiated, and we will try to get them disqualified. If the Speaker works as per the law and rules, they will be disqualified," Raul told journalists.

Since it may not be easy to get the deserting party MPs entangled in the provisions of the anti-defection law, UBT can still indulge in optics of taking organisational actions like suspending or sacking the six from the party but that will be inconsequential since the horses have already bolted.

However, Raut vowed to fight it out. "The fight will continue in Parliament, court as well as the streets. The fight on the streets has already begun. The security of these traitors has been enhanced. Let them also bring in the Army. Only that remains to be deployed in the security of traitors."