Firmly with Shiv Sena-UBT, say eight party MPs

New Delhi, Feb 7 (PTI) Eight Shiv Sena (UBT) parliamentarians on Friday asserted that they were firmly with the party, rejecting claims by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena of mass desertions from the Uddhav Thackeray-led outfit.

Maharashtra minister Uday Samant had claimed several incumbent and former MLAs and six MPs from Shiv Sena (UBT) were in talks to join the Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

Shiv Sena (UBT) has nine members in the Lok Sabha and two in the Rajya Sabha.

On Friday, Lok Sabha members of Shiv Sena (UBT) — Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai, Omraje Nimbalkar, Bhausaheb Wakchaure, Rajabhau Waje, Sanjay Jadhav, Nagesh Ashtikar and Sanjay Deshmukh — held a joint press conference to assert their allegiance to the party.

Sawant asserted that none of the Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs had received any phone calls and condemned the attempts to “spread rumours” about mass desertions from the Thackeray-led party.

The former Union minister said the Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs had been with the party in difficult times and would continue to do so.

The two outfits have been bickering since the BJP-led Mahayuti swept to power in Maharashtra in November, leaving the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition with just 46 seats in the 288-member assembly.

The Shinde-led Shiv Sena won 57 seats in the assembly polls, getting an upper hand over the Thackeray-led outfit ahead of the crucial local bodies elections, expected later this year.