India, Feb. 13 -- In yet another jolt to Uddhav Thackeray, Rajan Salvi, a senior leader from the Shiv Sena (UBT), quit the party on Wednesday. He is likely to join the Shiv Sena led by deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday or Friday.

Salvi, a former MLA from Rajapur, lost in the recent assembly elections to the Shiv Sena's Kiran Samant. He had recently met Uddhav Thackeray to complain that the interference of Vinayak Raut, who is in charge of the party's affairs in Konkan, was responsible for his defeat. Thackeray, however, rebuffed him.

On Wednesday, Salvi sent a letter to Thackeray, where he said that accepting responsibility for his defeat in the elections, he was resigning as the party's deputy leader. He is expected to me...