Overview
- Only three of the party’s nine Lok Sabha MPs attended a compulsory parliamentary party meeting, with six MPs absent in a split that sources report occurred on Thursday and effectively reduced UBT’s sitting contingent to three.
- The six absent MPs have written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla asking to be recognised as a separate parliamentary group and signalling intent to merge with Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, according to statements from Maharashtra ministers and multiple news reports.
- UBT leadership has issued seven‑day show‑cause notices to the six MPs and launched a legal plan to seek their disqualification under the Tenth Schedule if responses are unsatisfactory.
- The rebel bloc’s claim rests on a two‑thirds threshold of UBT’s nine‑member Lok Sabha unit, but final recognition of any merger or protection from disqualification rests with the Speaker and could prompt extended litigation up to the Supreme Court.
- The shift would materially boost Shinde’s parliamentary strength and bargaining power within the NDA, has prompted enhanced Y+ security for the six MPs, and sparked threats of protests and electoral retaliation from UBT and its allies.