After a majority of Shiv Sena MLAs defected to form a government with the BJP in Maharashtra, the parliamentary group of the party is also going to see a rebellion, with 14 out of the 19 of its Lok Sabha MPs likely to ask Speaker Om Birla for recognition as a separate group.
Top sources in the BJP-Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena coalition told The Hindu that the move may happen as early as July 13 or 14, with one of the official reasons being given as wanting to extend support to National Democratic Alliance’s nominee for the presidential polls Droupadi Murmu.
“Apart from Arvind Sawant, Vinayak Raut, Gajanan Kritikar and Sanjay Mandlike, all other Shiv Sena Lok Sabha MPs want to cede from the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction and declare allegiance to the Eknath Shinde faction. And while there is no whip in place for presidential polls, wanting to support Ms. Murmu’s candidature will be one of the reasons cited for the split,” said a source.
