Five MLAs, two MPs from Uddhav group to join Shinde-led faction, claims Shiv Sena leader

New Delhi: Shiv Sena Lok Sabha member Krupal Tumane claimed on Wednesday that two MPs and five MLAs from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena faction will join Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's group at the latter's Dussehra rally in the evening.Tumane, a member of the Shinde group, told a news channel that the two MPs could be from Mumbai and Marathwada.

"You will see in the evening," he added. Those who believe in the Shinde faction's ideology are calling up and joining it, according to Tumane, a Maharashtra MP from Ramtek. The Shinde faction currently has 40 MLAs, including the CM, and 12 Lok Sabha members. Thackeray's faction now has 15 MLAs and six Lok Sabha members.

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The Shiv Sena had 18 Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra and one from Dadra and Nagar Haveli before the split in June of this year. Shinde's rebel group will hold a Dussehra rally on Wednesday evening at the MMRDA ground in Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex. The Thackeray faction will hold its rally in central Mumbai's historic Shivaji Park, which has been associated with the Shiv Sena since its inception in 1966.

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Shinde and 39 other Sena legislators rebelled against the party leadership in June, resulting in the collapse of Thackeray's Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Shinde was sworn in as CM on June 30, along with BJP's Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy.

(Inputs from PTI)