MUMBAI: Amid reports of a TMC split, Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday convened his party’s parliamentary board meeting, which was attended by senior party leaders besides Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members.
There are reports that Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde has undertaken ‘Operation Tiger’ to poach the two or three MPs of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT). The operation has been carried out to increase Shiv Sena’s tally in the Lok Sabha and extend support to the BJP in the Centre so that the BJP can comfortably carry out its earlier rejected delimitation bill in both houses of Parliament.
Union minister and Shiv Sena Lok Sabha MP Pratap Jadhav said that Operation Tiger is in the last phase and that it will be completed soon. He said all the MPs of the Shiv Sena (UBT) are in touch with DCM Eknath Shinde, and whenever he wishes, Operation Tiger will be accomplished at the right time and on an auspicious occasion.
Sources said that out of the total nine Lok Sabha MPs of the Shiv Sena (UBT), six were in touch with Eknath Shinde and a total of seven MPs were needed to avoid action under the anti-defection law. “DCM Eknath Shinde earlier called the meeting in Thane where all seven MPs of the Shiv Sena (UBT) attended; three of them attended the meeting online where they discussed the modalities and promises before joining the Shiv Sena. Some of the MPs have also taken an advance through a third person who is close to both the party and Shinde and Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs. But they bought back more time to check the public mood of their respective constituencies before switching sides,” said a senior person who is privy to this development.
He added that Operation Tiger will be accomplished on the eve of the monsoon session of Parliament. “In the monsoon session, the BJP is likely to bring the delimitation and women’s reservation bill, where they need the 2/3 MPs’ support in both houses. Once the 20 MPs of the TMC and eight MPs of the Shiv Sena (UBT) join, the BJP will be in comfortable positions to pass it. If needed, then another operation of NCP SP MPs is also kept on board. Many NCP SP Lok Sabha MPs are directly in touch with the top leadership of the BJP, so senior BJP leadership is directly handling that operation,” he added, requesting anonymity.