Twelve Lok Sabha MPs of the Shiv Sena on Tuesday met Speaker Om Birla, seeking to split the parliamentary party and align with the rebel Eknath Shinde camp, a move that could further marginalise former chief minister and party chief Uddhav Thackeray.

Twelve of the 19 Sena MPs met the Speaker and submitted a written petition, seeking the appointment of a new leader and chief whip of the party in the House. The petition named Rahul Shewale as floor leader of the party in the House and Bhavana Gawali as the chief whip.

Bhavana Gawali, the MP from Yavatmal-Washim, was the chief whip of the Shiv Sena in the Lok Sabha but the Uddhav-led group has already written to the Speaker to replace her with Rachna Vichare. Currently, the leader of the Shiv Sena in the House is Vinayak Raut.

“We have submitted in writing to the Speaker, requesting him to appoint Rahul Sewale as the new leader and Bhavana Gawli as chief whip,” Hemant Godse, one of the MPs from the group of 12, told reporters in Parliament.

The move, seen to be masterminded by the BJP, came on a day when rebel Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde was in Delhi to meet the BJP top leadership. The 12 MPs later met Eknath at Maharashtra Sadan and claimed that like the desertion of MLAs in Maharashtra, more than two-thirds of the MPs will join their group.

For a formal split, more than two-thirds of the 19 MPs, or 14, are needed. There was no official word from the Speaker’s office, but sources said that certain “technical issues” were being sorted out and a decision would be taken soon.

“We have received petitions from both sides (Uddhav and Eknath camps). The Speaker is examining them,” one official in the Speaker’s office said.

Sources said by displaying the support of 12 MPs, the Eknath Shinde camp was trying to send out a message to the other 7 MPs to break away and join them.

A similar thing had happened with the Lok Janshakti Party, when 5 of the 6 MPs of the party led by party chief Chirag Paswan’s uncle Pasupati Paras had staged a coup and written to the Speaker that they be recognised as a separate group in the Lok Sabha.

“Today you saw 12 MPs. Two more are ready to join and soon you will come to know,” one BJP MP from Maharashtra said, confident that the new floor leader of the party and chief whip will get recognition from the Speaker.

BJP insiders said that the plan was to “completely isolate” Uddhav Thackeray ahead of the Mumbai municipal corporation elections later this year. The Shiv Sena draws its strength from Mumbai and the BJP is trying to end it by aiding and abetting a split from top to bottom in the party.