Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Vinayak Raut has claimed that 22 MLAs and nine Lok Sabha MPs from Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena want to leave the party and are upset with BJP. He also claimed that state minister Shambhuraj Desai has conveyed to party chief Uddhav Thackeray that Shinde faction's legislators are "feeling suffocated". Desai has denied the claim.