The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena is set for a second split in four years with six of its nine Lok Sabha members skipping a key parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi on Thursday.The three MPs who showed up for the meeting were Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai and Rajabhau Waje while Nagesh Aashtikar Patil, Sanjay Deshmukh, Sanjay Jadhav, Sanjay Dina Patil, Omprakash Rajenimbalkar and Bhausaheb Wakchaure absented.Lone Shiv Sena-UBT Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut, who has been speaking for the party for days, said a show-cause notice would be issued to the rebels for defying the party whip, and that “they would need the Army’s protection to get back home in Maharashtra”.“The traitors will not be able to get home or reach their constituencies. They will be taught a lesson. They will need the Army’s help to reach home, and that of the Indian Air Force for protection (sic)…. This time it’s different,” said Raut, alleging the dissidents had been paid Rs 10 crore extra and moved to a safe location in Rajasthan. He had earlier accused the BJP of paying Rs 50 crore to the rebels.While Raut continued to attack the MPs for betraying the party, the Maharashtra Police extended Y-plus security to the rebels, making the link between the NDA camp and the dissidents official.The developments came on the eve of Shiv Sena’s foundation day. The party was formed by Balasaheb Thackeray on June 19, 1966.The dissidents would formally merge their bloc with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction on June 21, according to sources. They yesterday submitted a four-page letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, saying they were quitting the party over fears that “Uddhav would merge it with the Congress and betray the ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray”.The letter said the rebels had “no faith” in the party. They said they took serious note of Uddhav confidant Raut advising the Trinamool Congress to merge with the Congress, and that even the Shiv Sena-UBT could follow suit.Shinde had earlier led a split in the Shiv Sena in June 2022 when he walked off with two-thirds MLAs and joined the NDA camp in Maharashtra. This time, Shinde has engineered a break-up of the Sena-UBT’s Lok Sabha legislature party.Meanwhile, BJP Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan said Shiv Sena-UBT corporators from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation would be the next to leave the party.