A series of late-night flights, a carefully coordinated movement to Delhi and a meeting with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla marked what appears to be the second major split in Shiv Sena (UBT).

Six of the party's nine Lok Sabha MPs have moved to merge with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

Sources told India Today that the rebellion began taking shape shortly after midnight on June 16 and was executed largely away from public view.

The scale of the split became clearer on Thursday when only three of Sena UBT's nine Lok Sabha MPs attended a crucial party meeting despite a whip being issued.

The rebel MPs — Sanjay Jadhav, Sanjay Deshmukh, Omraje Nimbalkar, Bhausaheb Wakchaure, Nagesh Patil Ashtikar and Sanjay Dina Patil — had already skipped a party meeting on June 14.

They had also stayed away from Aaditya Thackeray's birthday celebrations.

Must Watch: "Deal For ₹50-60 Cr": Sanjay Raut Claims Uddhav Faction MPs Being Bought For ₹15 Crore Advance

A midnight movement to Delhi

According to sources, the first MP to reach Delhi on June 16 was Nagesh Ashtikar, who arrived from Nanded in a private jet around 1.30 am.

A few hours later, Sanjay Deshmukh and Sanjay Jadhav also flew in from Nanded on another private aircraft. Wakchaure arrived from Hyderabad by private jet, while Sanjay Dina Patil and Maharashtra minister Pratap Sarnaik reached Delhi later that night.

Shiv Sena chief and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is said to have travelled from Mumbai to Jaipur before landing in Delhi around 3 am.

His son and Lok Sabha MP Shrikant Shinde arrived around 4.30 am, followed by Omraje Nimbalkar, who travelled from Pune. The rebel MPs were later accommodated at a hotel in Noida, sources said.

Letter to the Speaker

The next phase of the operation unfolded on June 17.

Sources said Shrikant Shinde and Omraje Nimbalkar met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla around 7 am. At approximately 10.20 am, the remaining five MPs also met the Speaker and submitted a letter seeking recognition of their merger with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

They also requested that their seating arrangement in the Lok Sabha be changed.

In the letter, the MPs reportedly argued that the party leadership had moved away from Shiv Sena's ideology and alleged that senior leaders were planning to merge Sena UBT with the Congress.

With six of the party's nine MPs backing the move, the group crosses the two-thirds threshold required to seek protection from disqualification under the anti-defection law.

Dispersing after Delhi

After meeting the Speaker, the MPs left Delhi separately.

Ashtikar travelled to Chennai before visiting Tirupati. Wakchaure headed to Varanasi, while Deshmukh and Jadhav went to Ayodhya. Dina Patil returned to Mumbai, and Nimbalkar travelled back to Pune.

The six MPs are expected to meet Eknath Shinde on June 20, a day after Shiv Sena's foundation day. According to sources, they are likely to brief him on their meeting with the Speaker and publicly release the letter explaining their decision to leave the Uddhav Thackeray camp.

Raut alleges 'Operation Tiger'

Sena UBT MP Sanjay Raut outlined some details of the alleged operation during a press conference on Wednesday.

Raut claimed MPs were being flown to Delhi in chartered aircraft and offered large sums of money as part of what he described as "Operation Tiger". He further alleged that Rs 15 crore had already been paid in advance to rebel MPs and claimed they would collectively receive Rs 50 crore for defecting. 

The allegations have not been independently verified.

The latest rebellion comes four years after Eknath Shinde's dramatic 2022 revolt, when he walked away with 40 of Shiv Sena's 55 MLAs in Maharashtra. This time, the challenge to Uddhav Thackeray's leadership appears to be unfolding in Parliament, with a majority of the party's Lok Sabha MPs now backing Shinde.

Published on: Jun 18, 2026 5:09 PM IST