Speaker Om Birla clears merger of 6 Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs with Shinde camp, separate seating for TMC rebels

Om Birla approved the merger of six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs to the Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena (Express File Photo)

TWO days before the start of Parliament’s Monsoon Session, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Saturday approved the merger of six rebel Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, raising the latter’s strength in the Lower House to 13.

Birla’s decision was reflected in a circular issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat on the “revised party position” in the 18th Lok Sabha “consequent upon change in party affiliation of 6 Members of Shiv Sena (UBT)”.

The move assumes significance as the BJP has stepped up its efforts to muster a two-thirds majority required to pass the 131st Constitution Amendment Bill to roll out women’s reservation law along with a delimitation legislation.

Birla’s nod makes the Shinde Sena the second-largest constituent of the BJP-led NDA. With 13 Lok Sabha MPs — one more than Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and three short of the N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP’s 16 — Shinde’s party is now the seventh-largest in the Lok Sabha.

The merger of 20 rebel TMC Lok Sabha MPs with a little known outfit Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) has yet to be recognised by the Speaker, with the party position released Saturday stating that the TMC, led by Abhishek Banerjee in the House, has 28 MPs. The Speaker has however allowed the rebel TMC group to have a separate seating from the parent party. Sources said a decision on the TMC rebels is expected on Sunday.

However, on Saturday, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju invited the TMC’s breakaway faction to the customary meeting of floor leaders of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha to be held by the government on Sunday.

If Birla allows the merger of 20 rebel TMC MPs with the NCPI, the TMC will lose its position as the fourth largest party in the Lower House and slide to the ninth slot with 8 members, equalling the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).

Rijiju’s invitation to Sudip Bandhopadhyay, the leader of the rebel TMC group, for the Sunday meeting immediately triggered a political row.

“Cheating. Mocking our democracy. Speaker has referred to 20 traitors as still being TMC MPs. Minutes later, Modi-Shah minister invites traitors for all-party meet & refers to them as NCPI,” TMC MP Derek O’Brien said in an X post.

In April, prior to splits and mergers in several parties including the TMC and the Sena (UBT), the BJP had in the Lok Sabha 240 MPs followed by the TDP’s 16, JD(U)’s 12, Shinde Sena’s 7 and the LJP’s 5. Along with smaller allies, the NDA’s tally then stood at 299.

With the rebel TMC MPs having pledged support to the NDA, the recognition of their merger with the NCPI will increase the NDA’s strength to 319. If the NCP (SP) supports the NDA, its numbers would rise to 327, short of 33 from a two-thirds majority mark of 360, which is required to ensure the passage of a constitutional amendment Bill.

In April, the total strength of the Opposition INDIA bloc and supporting parties was 225 — including the Congress’s 98 MPs, Samajwadi Party 37, TMC 28, DMK 22, Shiv Sena (UBT) 9, NCP (SP) 8, Left 8, RJD 4, three each for IUML, JMM and AAP, and two MPs of the National Conference.

The Opposition alliance is now likely to be down 26, following the splits in the TMC and the Sena (UBT), even as there is uncertainty about the DMK’s position.

In Parliament’s special session in April, the Narendra Modi government’s move to push the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, to advance the women quota law along with a Delimitation Bill failed, which saw 528 of 540 Lok Sabha MPs participate, with 298 voting in its favour, 230 against it, and 11 MPs absent. The NDA thus fell short of the two-thirds mark of 352.

Hours after Birla’s move, Eknath Shinde, the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, said that the MPs of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena (UBT) switched to his party to secure development for their constituencies and not for “personal gains”.

Rejecting allegations that the six Sena (UBT) MPs were “lured” with money, Shinde said the Uddhav Sena needed to “introspect” on why its leaders were deserting their party.

“These six MPs have joined us to ensure justice and development for the people who elected them. We will ensure they receive development funds and every possible support,” Shinde said.

“The MPs have not joined us for personal interests but for development. We have already facilitated meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and our ministers will ensure projects in their constituencies are expedited,” he said.

Shinde also targeted Uddhav over his party’s renewed emphasis on Hindutva amid his Ram Raksha campaign. “Hindutva is not a T-shirt that you wear today and discard tomorrow. They abandoned Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideology in 2019 for power by aligning with the Congress and the NCP. Now, when their own party is in trouble, they have suddenly remembered Lord Ram,” he said.