India, June 19 -- A split in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Lok Sabha unit appears certain as six of the party's nine MPs defied the party whip, skipping a meeting of the parliamentary unit on Thursday. The party has issued show cause notices to the dissident MPs.

The breakaway group of MPs, who plan to merge with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, had said in a letter to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla that they have no faith in their party, which had "moved away from the ideology of their founder Bal Thackeray". They also feared the party would merge with the Congress, they claimed.

The speaker's office had not issued any order on the letter until Thursday evening or confirmed any such meetings.

Since the breakaway group consist...