In Maharashtra, six Lok Sabha MPs who were elected from Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction have switched allegiance to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. The effort behind the shift was described by Shinde’s side as “Operation Tiger”.
Shiv Sena, once a unified party in the state, split into two factions a few years ago, with both Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde claiming to be the original organisation. The Election Commission later recognised the Shinde faction as the original Shiv Sena.
In the Lok Sabha election, nine MPs won on the Uddhav faction’s ticket. However, in the Assembly election, the BJP–Shinde Shiv Sena alliance returned to power, and the political churn intensified.
The defection, which had been the subject of speculation for weeks, became public on Sunday when the six MPs appeared on the same stage with Shinde and announced that they had joined the “original” Shiv Sena.
Following this, the Uddhav faction said it would move to disqualify the MPs under anti-defection provisions.
