Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday declared that only one Shiv Sena now exists, delivering a pointed message during a public event in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. Referring to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s political journey since the 2022 split, Shah said there was a time when people referred to his camp as the “Shiv Sena-Shinde faction”, but that distinction no longer existed.
“Earlier, people had to say ‘Shiv Sena-Shinde faction’ after Eknath Shinde ji’s name. Now, no faction remains. There is only one Shiv Sena,” Shah said while addressing the gathering.
His remarks came amid fresh turmoil within Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT). Six of the party’s nine Lok Sabha MPs stayed away from a parliamentary meeting in Delhi and submitted a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking recognition as a separate group. Their expected move towards the Shinde-led Shiv Sena is likely to strengthen support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP-led NDA government at the Center.
A significant moment in the Sena power struggle
For Shah, the statement marked what many see as the culmination of a political realignment that began when Shinde rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray in 2022. Since then, the BJP has been widely viewed as backing developments that weakened Uddhav’s organizational hold over the party.
Shah has repeatedly projected Shinde’s outfit as the legitimate successor to the Shiv Sena founded by Bal Thackeray. Speaking at an earlier event in Mumbai, he had remarked that Shinde had demonstrated what the ” real Shiv Sena ” was.
Responding to those comments at the time, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut sarcastically compared the situation to suggesting that the Republican Party in the United States belonged to Ramdas Athawale. He claimed everyone knew Shinde’s party functioned under Amit Shah’s influence.
BJP denies involvement in Sena split plans
Despite the political fallout, BJP leaders have publicly denied any role in efforts to engineer defections from Shiv Sena (UBT). Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said the BJP had nothing to do with the developments and insisted that MPs were choosing to leave Uddhav Thackeray’s party of their own accord.
However, senior Shiv Sena leaders told HT that discussions around a possible split began shortly after the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections. According to them, the plan gained momentum after the Delimitation Bill failed to secure parliamentary approval due to the NDA lacking the required two-thirds majority.
Sources claimed that Eknath Shinde and his son, Kalyan MP Shrikant Shinde, persuaded BJP leaders that convincing Sena (UBT) MPs to switch sides could help bolster the NDA’s numbers in Parliament.
The developments have coincided with political instability inside West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress, leading some opposition leaders to argue that the BJP is attempting to strengthen support for the Delimitation Bill. There has also been speculation that the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament could be advanced to facilitate progress on the legislation.
Shiv Sena (UBT) alleges the BJP strategy
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve accused the BJP of orchestrating the entire operation while using Eknath Shinde as its public face.
“The BJP is behind this entire plan, but Eknath Shinde has been made the figurehead,” Danve told PTI. He alleged that the objective was to increase the NDA’s parliamentary strength and improve its chances of passing the Delimitation Bill, adding that the BJP was worried about its prospects in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
Party MP Arvind Sawant also wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, urging him not to recognise any breakaway faction. He described the developments as part of a broader BJP campaign against opposition parties after the government’s inability to pass the Delimitation Bill in April.
A political journey that began in 2022
The latest rebellion further cements the alliance between the BJP and Eknath Shinde that emerged during the dramatic split in June 2022. At the time, Shinde justified his revolt on ideological grounds, arguing that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government was an unnatural alliance and presenting himself as a defender of Hindutva.
The BJP eventually backed his faction and supported his elevation as Chief Minister.
In 2023, the Election Commission ruled in favour of the Shinde camp, granting it ownership of the Shiv Sena name and the iconic bow-and-arrow election symbol. Uddhav Thackeray’s group was subsequently renamed Shiv Sena (UBT) and allotted the flaming torch symbol.
