Aaditya Thackeray issues directive as UBT Sena gets upset with MPs meeting Eknath Shinde

After expressing his disappointment over NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar felicitating Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, the man who broke the Shiv Sena, the Uddhav Thackeray Sena faction leadership is also miffed at its own MPs who have been hobnobbing with Shinde and his faction.

UBT Sena's Aaditya Thackeray has asked the party MPs not to hobnob with the Shinde camp MPs after it transpired that several MPs from the UBT faction have been meeting Shinde and others, and were even present for the event where Shinde was felicitated by Pawar. Aaditya has apparently asked the MPs to seek prior approval of the party leadership before accepting dinner invites from Shinde's Shiv Sena.

On February 11, when Pawar felicitated Shinde, UBT Sena MP from Mumbai North East Sanjay Dina Patil was present at the event in Delhi. Patil was apparently also present for a dinner hosted by Kalyan MP Shrikant Shinde, son of Eknath Shinde on the same night.


On November 12, UBT Sena Lok Sabha MPs, including Nagesh Ashtikar, Bhausaheb Wakchaure and Sanjay Jadhav, were present for a dinner organised by Shiv Sena MP and Union minister Prataprao Jadhav in Delhi.

The Uddhav camp has objected to these interactions for two reasons - one such event happened after the UBT Sena had already expressed displeasure to Pawar felicitating Shinde which the UBT Sena believes gives legitimacy to the deputy CM; and second it leads to questions on how many of these MPs will cross over to the other faction. There has been relentless talk from Shiv Sena leaders that many of the UBT Sena MPs and MLAs will soon cross over to their party.

In this regard, the UBT camp was forced to parade all of its MPs last week in Mumbai who swore that they would remain loyal to the Thackerays. Interestingly, Sanjay Dina Patil was absent from the parade of MPs.

Reacting to the diktat, Shiv Sena minister Shambhuraj Desai said, "Aaditya Thackeray does not have faith in his MPs and party leaders and hence seems to have put such curbs on them."