Mumbai

SixShiv Sena (UBT) MPs reportedly formed a separate group in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday and submitted a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. The six MPs are expected to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Friday, the party's foundation day. Sena functionaries said the process of forming the separate group was completed smoothly.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has nine MPs in the Lok Sabha. Barring Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai and Rajabhau Waze, all the remaining MPs are understood to have joined the new group.

Sena (UBT) MPs Sanjay Raut, Sawant and Desai also met Birla and urged him not to recognise any separate group formed by defecting Sena (UBT) MPs. However, Sena functionaries claimed that Birla had recognised the group of six MPs as a separate bloc.Amid reports of "Operation Tiger" being underway to engineer a split in the Sena (UBT), the party has issued a whip directing all its Lok Sabha MPs to attend a meeting of the parliamentary party in Delhi on Thursday at 11 am. The whip was issued by MP Anil Desai, the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha.

Sena (UBT) functionaries said party chief Uddhav Thackeray may also travel to Delhi in an attempt to pacify the MPs and could attend the parliamentary party meeting on Thursday.

Continued on Page 7