Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Meets Rival Minister, Fuels Defection Rumors

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Deshmukh met Sena minister, fueling defection speculation after skipping a party meeting.

MUMBAI: A day after Shiv Sena (UBT) MP from Yavatmal-Washim Sanjay Deshmukh skipped physically attending a meeting of all 9 Lok Sabha MPs of the party called by its chief Uddhav Thackeray, Deshmukh met the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Union minister Pratap Jadhav in New Delhi. The meeting intensified speculation, which has been rife over the past few days, that a number of UBT Sena’s MPs may be headed to the Shinde Sena. It was this speculation that led Uddhav to summon all the MPs to Matoshree on Sunday. Only 4 MPs came to Matoshree, while the other 5, including Deshmukh, the party claimed, attended online. Jadhav said Sanjay Deshmukh met him on Monday for personal work related to an educational institute in their region (Jadhav is MP from Buldhana and Deshmukh from the neighbouring Yavatmal-Washim) and added that the meeting had nothing to do with any defection or split. However, the very fact that Deshmukh, who had been unable to make it to Mumbai on Sunday, met the Shinde Sena minister in New Delhi the very next day raised eyebrows in political circles. Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut however claimed that all of the party’s 9 MPs were in touch with the party and were firmly with Uddhav Thackeray. Raut said the Sena (UBT) will launch ‘Operation Wolf’ to target its opponents, apparently referring to the rival Sena led by Dy CM Shinde. Pratap Jadhav said, “Sanjay Deshmukh has an educational institution in Yavatmal district. He wanted to get some information about his college. And since I was in New Delhi and coincidentally, he had come here in the morning, we met for tea and to talk. Due to some technical difficulties, he attended his party meeting online on Sunday.” Jadhav further said, “Sanjay Deshmukh and I have been friends since the time we were in the same organization. He was district head of Yavatmal at that time, and I was the district head for Buldhana. We have worked together in the organization since then. We both belong to the same region (Vidarbha). Our friendship is good. And now, even though he has been elected as an MP from another party, he is an MP from a neighbouring constituency as the Yavatmal-Washim Lok Sabha constituency is adjacent to Buldhana district. So our friendship is good, and we meet frequently as friends, though we are opponents in politics.” Of the Sena (UBT)’s 9 LS MPs, Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai, Rajabhau Waze and Sanjay Patil attended the meeting at Matoshree in person on Sunday. About the remaining 5 MPs, Raut had said on Sunday that Omprakash Raje Nimbalkar, Bhausaheb Wakchaure, Nagesh Bapurao Patil Ashtikar and Sanjay Deshmukh had attended the meeting online, while Sanjay Jadhav had spoken to Thackeray over the phone. Jadhav would be visiting Mumbai and meeting Thackeray in the next two days, Raut said on Monday. Since the UBT Sena has 9 MPs, at least 6 MPs will have to come together to meet the two-thirds requirement which would protect them from disqualification and allow for a merger with another party.