New Delhi, July 18 -- Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on 18 July gave his approval to the merger of six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs with the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and a separate seating in the House for the 20 rebel TMC lawmakers, who have joined a little- know party, NCPI.

With the merger of the six MPs, the strength of the Shiv Sena has gone up to 13 from seven, news agency PTI said.

The TMC rebel group of 20 MPs will sit separately, away from the parent party, the sources were quoted as saying in the PTI report. There is no clarity on the status of the rebel TMC MPs' demand to be recognised as part of the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), the report said.

The development comes two days ahead o...