MUMBAI: BJP MLA Ashishrao Deshmukh on Wednesday alleged that Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut was working towards a merger of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction with the Congress.Speaking to news agency ANI, Deshmukh claimed that Raut wanted all Shiv Sena (UBT) MLAs and MPs to join the Congress. He further alleged that under the proposed arrangement, Sharad Pawar would be made the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, while Uddhav Thackeray would be appointed president of the Maharashtra Congress.“I have heard that Sanjay Raut wants all UBT MLAs and MPs to merge with Congress. With this, Sharad Pawar will be appointed the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, and Uddhav Thackeray will be appointed president of the Maharashtra Congress. Sanjay Raut is working on this. Upset over such developments, UBT MPs may have come to Delhi to meet the Lok Sabha Speaker,” Deshmukh said.The BJP MLA further claimed he had “credible information” that Raut was actively pursuing the merger of both Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction with the Congress.Taking a swipe at the Rajya Sabha MP, Deshmukh said, “People have stopped taking Sanjay Raut’s daily statements seriously.”His remarks come at a time when Shiv Sena (UBT) is facing a major setback in the Lok Sabha. On Wednesday, six of the party’s nine MPs reportedly formed a separate group and submitted a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. The MPs are expected to formally join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on June 19, the party’s foundation day.The six MPs are understood to include all Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha members except Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai and Rajabhau Waze. Sena (UBT) leaders Sanjay Raut, Sawant and Desai also met Birla and urged him not to recognise any separate group of defecting MPs. However, Shiv Sena functionaries claimed that the Speaker had recognised the six MPs as a separate group in the Lok Sabha.Amid reports of “Operation Tiger” to engineer a split in Shiv Sena (UBT), the party has issued a whip directing all its Lok Sabha MPs to attend a meeting of its parliamentary party in New Delhi on Thursday at 11 am. The notice, issued by Lok Sabha Chief Whip Anil Desai, stated that the meeting would discuss important party matters and that the presence of all MPs was mandatory.According to Sena (UBT) functionaries, party chief Uddhav Thackeray may also travel to Delhi to meet the MPs and attend the parliamentary party meeting in an effort to prevent further defections.Late on Tuesday, Arvind Sawant, the leader of the Shiv Sena (UBT) parliamentary party, wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla requesting him not to entertain any claim by defecting MPs seeking recognition as a separate group or a merger with another political party. In his letter, Sawant noted that the party’s claim over being the “real Shiv Sena” remains pending before the Supreme Court and said his representation was being made without prejudice to that claim.
