Sanjay Raut, a Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP, said Wednesday that rebel party members were offered monetary inducements to defect.
The allegations highlight a deepening crisis within the party and the precarious nature of legislative loyalty in Maharashtra. If the claims are accurate, the attempted split could shift the balance of power in the state's political landscape.
Raut said that rebel MPs were offered 15 crore [1] to join the faction led by Eknath Shinde. He said these actions were a betrayal of the voters who elected the representatives to their positions.
The MP urged the dissenting members to resign from their posts and face fresh elections rather than switching sides. Raut said the inducements were specifically intended to split the party and undermine its stability.
The dispute centers on the ongoing rift between the UBT faction and the Shinde-led group. This tension has manifested in several attempts to sway members of the Indian Parliament and state legislators through financial incentives.
Maharashtra politics has seen frequent shifts in allegiance between parties in recent years. The current friction suggests that the stability of the Shiv Sena (UBT) remains under threat from rival factions seeking to consolidate power.
“Sanjay Raut said rebel MPs were offered 15 crore to join the faction led by Eknath Shinde.”
These allegations point to a strategic effort by the Shinde-led faction to weaken the Shiv Sena (UBT) by targeting its legislative members. By calling for resignations and new elections, Raut is attempting to frame the defection as a moral failure and a violation of the democratic mandate, shifting the narrative from a political realignment to a matter of voter betrayal.
