The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) on Wednesday, 17 June issued a formal whip to all its Lok Sabha Members of Parliament, ordering mandatory attendance at a parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi on 18 June. The move comes as the party faces what insiders describe as a serious internal rebellion that could redraw its parliamentary strength.

The Whip and What It Means

Anil Desai, Chief Whip of Shiv Sena (UBT) in the Lok Sabha, confirmed the circular, telling reporters: 'We have called a parliamentary meeting. A whip has been released, so it means every MP should be present.' Under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, failure to attend without a valid reason could expose dissenting MPs to disqualification proceedings — a significant legal lever the leadership has now activated.

The meeting is scheduled for 11:00 AM IST at Samvidhan Sadan (Parliament House). Party sources indicated that Uddhav Thackeray, the party's chief, may personally travel to New Delhi to chair the session and consolidate his parliamentary bloc.

Operation Tiger: What the Rebellion Allegations Claim

Reports have surfaced of an alleged scheme dubbed 'Operation Tiger', with claims that six to seven of the party's nine Lok Sabha MPs are in advanced talks to defect to the ruling Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction. Several UBT lawmakers were reportedly already camping in the national capital ahead of the meeting.

Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut alleged that financial inducements of upwards of ₹50 crore per MP — with ₹15 crore reportedly paid as advance — were being used to engineer defections, with chartered flights allegedly arranged for the purpose. These are allegations and have not been independently verified.

Leadership Meets Lok Sabha Speaker

In a pre-emptive legal move, senior leaders Sanjay Raut, Arvind Sawant, and Anil Desai met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday. They submitted a formal representation invoking anti-defection laws, constitutional provisions, and Supreme Court rulings, urging the Speaker not to recognise any separate group or entertain merger claims without consulting the Shiv Sena (UBT) leadership.

This is a direct echo of the 2022 rebellion in which the original Shiv Sena split, with the Shinde faction eventually winning recognition as the 'real' Shiv Sena — a legal and political blow from which the UBT camp has yet to fully recover.

Historical Context and What Is at Stake

The 2022 split cost Uddhav Thackeray the Maharashtra Chief Ministership and eventually the party's name and symbol. A second defection wave — even a partial one — would further erode the UBT's parliamentary presence and its bargaining power within the INDIA bloc. With only nine Lok Sabha seats, losing six or seven MPs would effectively reduce the party to a rump. The whip, the Speaker's representation, and the prospect of Thackeray's personal presence in Delhi together signal that the party is treating this as an existential moment.

How many MPs ultimately attend the 18 June meeting — and whether Thackeray can hold his parliamentary group intact — will determine the UBT's political trajectory in the months ahead.