Shiv Sena at 60: Fragmentation of Maharashtra’s ‘Tiger’

“Thackeray is the breath of Maharashtra!” proclaimed Uddhav Thackeray’s faction Shiv Sena (UBT) on social media as it celebrated its parent party’s sixtieth foundation day on Friday (June 19, 2026). Meanwhile, its rival faction, which inherited the party’s name and its iconic ‘Bow and arrow’ symbol, shared a photo of its leader — Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, declaring ‘an unbroken bond of speeches, ideology, Hindutva, tradition and Shiv Sena’. 

The two factions have annually held a ‘Dasara Melava’ to declare themselves as the ‘real’ Shiv Sena, chart the party’s future agenda, and take potshots at each other. While the Election Commission awarded the party’s name and symbol to Mr. Shinde,  and Speaker Rahul Narwekar recognised it as the ‘real’ Shiv Sena, the Supreme Court is yet to decide on Mr. Thackeray’s challenge to both these decisions. The party which started out to unite the disillusioned ‘Marathi Manoos’ in 1966, stands at its weakest today as Shiv Sena (UBT) faces another rebellion from six out of its nine Lok Sabha MPs.

Maharashtra: Congress rule to Coalition Rajya (1947-2024)

Voice of the ‘Marathi Manoos’

Moved by the plight of the Marathi residents in Mumbai, cartoonist-turned-politician Bal Keshav Thackeray, also known as Balasaheb, founded the Shiv Sena on June 19, 1966. Named as the ‘army of Shivaji Maharaj’, Shiv Sena’s initial targets were Mumbai’s South Indians as Mr. Thackeray claimed that local Marathi-speaking citizens were being discriminated against for jobs in Mumbai. Focusing on discontent among Mumbai’s middle class over declining wages, soaring land and housing prices and in-migration of South Indians, Sena flourished under Congress’ tacit support as it expanded its ideology from Marathi pride to Hindutva

Through the years, Chhagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane, Raj Thackeray and Eknath Shinde have splintered the Shiv Sena often rebelling against Balasaheb and Uddhav Thackeray’s control over the Sena. All of the above leaders have rebelled again, further eroding the Sena’s power.

Bhujbal — The ever-rebelling Shiv Sainik

The first chink in Sena’s armour appeared on December 6, 1991, when Sena veteran and former Mumbai Mayor Chhagan Bhujbal raised a revolt with 20 MLAs, declaring themselves as a separate bloc in the Maharashtra Assembly. Named Shiv Sena (B), Mr. Bhujbal and twelve other Sena MLAs later merged with Congress (O), citing Sena’s indifference towards the OBC community. 

Mr. Bhujbal later followed Sharad Pawar as the Maratha strongman broke away from Congress in 1999 to form the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). In his third rebellion in 2023, Mr. Bhujbal broke ranks with the senior Pawar to side with his nephew Ajit Pawar to break the NCP into two factions. He is currently the Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Protection Minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government. 

Narayan Rane and Thackerays

Two rebellions which further shook Sena’s foundation occurred within months in 2005. Narayan Rane, a ‘shakha pramukh’ who climbed the Sena ranks to become Chief Minister in 1999, began publically criticising Balasaheb’s potential successor Mr. Uddhav. By 2005, Mr. Rane along with Sanjay Nirupam quit the party citing nepotism and corruption and joined the Congress. He also attempted to split the Shiv Sena by wooing 40 of its MLAs, but his efforts did not fructify. Since then, Mr. Rane has quit the Congress, jumped ship to BJP, remained a fierce critic of Mr. Uddhav, and retained his stronghold in Ratnagiri – a former Sena bastion.  

Mr. Rane’s exit did provide fertile ground for the exit of Balasaheb’s fiery nephew — Raj Thackeray. Touted as a prospective successor, the younger Thackeray’s ambition was crushed in 2003, when Mr. Uddhav was formally elected as the national executive president in the party’s Mahabaleshwar conclave. With his supporters sidelined and denied tickets in Civic elections and party posts by Mr. Uddhav Thackeray, Mr. Raj wrote to his uncle that he was disillusioned by Mr. Uddhav’s leadership and quit from the party. 

Repeated attempts were made by the Sena founder to patch things up between the warring cousins, including offering charge of Nasik, Pune and Konkan to Mr. Raj, but it failed. On March 19, 2006, Mr. Raj formed the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), choosing a tri-colour (blue, saffron and green) flag and railway engine as its logo. Initially, MNS ate into the Thackeray vote and captured several seats in Civic and State elections in Mumbai area. Recently, the two cousins buried their 20-year-old hatchet for a Shiv Sena-MNS joint bid for the Mumbai civic polls in January 2026. However, their attempt to retain the Marathi/Thackeray vote failed as the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance ended Shiv Sena’s hegemony in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

Shinde grabs Sena’s control

In 2019, Shiv Sena and BJP formally ended their 35-year alliance after BJP refused to cede to Sena’s demand of a 50:50 power-sharing condition — an equal split in portfolios and shared CM tenure. A furious Mr. Uddhav struck an unlikely alliance with his party’s ideological opposition — Congress and NCP, to usher in the first Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government on December 30, 2019. The two-year MVA tenure was marked by fights between the alliance partners over Hindutva, Savarkar, secularism, minority rights and discontent among the cadres. 

In 2022, veteran Sena Minister Eknath Shinde defected along with 37 other MLAs, claiming his faction was the ‘real’ Shiv Sena. Holed in a Guwahati hotel, Mr. Shinde began talks with BJP seeking an alliance, claiming “I had to rebel after seeing Bal Thackeray’s ideology being compromised”. Reduced to the support of a mere 15 MLAs, Mr. Uddhav resigned as the CM and Mr. Shinde was sworn in along with Mr. Fadnavis as his Deputy on June 30, 2022. Since then, Mr. Shinde has remained in the Mahayuti alliance, delivering on electoral results — winning seven seats in Lok Sabha, 57 seats in Vidhan Sabha and over 1,300 seats in Municipal and Nagar panchayat polls this year.

Operation Tiger

Six of the nine remaining Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha MPs are rumoured to be planning a split away from the party tojoin hands with Mr. Shinde’s Sena. Dubbed ‘Operation Tiger’, six Sena (UBT) MPs — Sanjay Dina Patil, Sanjay Deshmukh, Sanjay Jadhav, Bhausaheb Wakchaure, Nagesh Patil-Ashtikar and Omprakash Raje Nimbalkar are likely to ‘declare’ themselves as a separate group and later join Shiv Sena. All six lawmakers did not attend the Sena (UBT) parliamentary party meeting convened in New Delhi on June 18, 2026. 

Sena (UBT)’s lone Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut claimed that the MPs have been offered a sum of ₹50 crores to switch loyalties. While four have allegedly signed the letter to the Speaker, two leaders Omraje Nimbalkar and Sanjay Dina Patil are yet to cave in. Mr. Raut claimed that Mr. Nimbalkar was allegedly being pressured due to a court verdict related to the assassination of his father, Pawanraje Nimbalkar. Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray has already written off the six MPs calling them ‘shameless, ungrateful, and corrupt’ individuals, while Mr. Nimbalkar has claimed that he has been left with ‘no other option’ as it had become difficult to function effectively due to the lack of funds.