Uddhav Sena Rebel's Daughter Signals Loyalty To Thackerays

The 60th Shiv Sena Foundation Day has devolved into a decisive moment for the party's cohesion as the Uddhav Thackeray-led UBT faction grapples with a legislative crisis. Six Lok Sabha MPs, including Mumbai Northeast representative Sanjay Dina Patil, have triggered intense political friction by skipping a critical parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi and writing to the Lok Sabha Speaker to express a lack of faith in the current leadership.

This deepening factional divide has mirrored itself uniquely within the Patil household, leading to an internal strategic split. Even as the senior Patil manoeuvres through a coordinated plan to merge the breakaway group with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, his daughter, Rajool Patil, a Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator, has publicly held her ground.

On the eve of the historic foundation day, she took to social media to share official UBT promotional posters and teaser greetings prominently featuring Bal Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray. Her public reassertion of allegiance to "Matoshree" draws a stark line between family ties and organisational loyalty, creating a compelling micro-narrative of the larger struggle for the true legacy of the Sena.

Speaking to NDTV just a day ahead of the meeting, Patil had firmly dismissed the defection rumours, asserting that he remained entirely with the Thackeray camp.

Also read: Team Thackeray Rebellion And A Trip To Delhi: Inside Story

However, his subsequent absence, combined with a swift escalation of police security outside his Bhandup residence amidst aggressive protests by local party loyalists, underscores a rapidly advancing political shift.

The six MPs from Uddhav Sena who have defected are Omraje Nimbalkar (Dharashiv), Sanjay Dina Patil (Mumbai North-East), Sanjay Jadhav (Parbhani), Sanjay Deshmukh (Yavatmal-Washim), Nagesh Patil Ashtikar (Hingoli) and Bhausaheb Vakchaure (Shirdi).

The MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday. Sources told NDTV the wantaway six told Birla that the Thackeray's faction - the 'original' Shiv Sena before Shinde's June 2022 revolt - had deviated from its ideology.

Also read: A Tale Of Two Tigers On Shiv Sena's Foundation Day

The six claimed senior Thackeray Sena leaders had plans to eventually merge with the Congress, part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi bloc and the ex-chief minister's ally. This 'merger', they said, was the reason for their jumping ship. They also requested Birla to allocate House seats near the seven occupied by MPs from the Eknath Shinde faction.