'Country's politics utterly rotten': Cong on Maha MP defections

Congress's Vijay Wadettiwar criticised six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs joining Eknath Shinde's camp, dubbed 'Operation Tiger'. He said politics is 'rotten' and a 'wrong message' is being sent, holding both defectors and engineers of the split responsible.

Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar criticised the recent political developments in Maharashtra following the defection of six Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha MPs to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, saying such developments were sending a wrong message to the public and reflecting the deteriorating state of politics in the country.

Speaking to ANI on the developments, which the Shinde camp has dubbed "Operation Tiger", Wadettiwar said responsibility lay not only with those engineering political splits but also with those choosing to leave their parties. "How can we blame only those who cause the split? Those who leave are also at fault. Does this imply that no one should ever be in the opposition? All this is merely for show; the country's politics has become utterly rotten. A lot has happened, and the wrong message is being conveyed to the public. There may well be a price to pay for this," he said.

Six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs Join Eknath Shinde Faction

The political turmoil in Maharashtra intensified after six Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha MPs -- Sanjay Haribhau Jadhav, Bhausaheb Rajaram Wakchaure, Omprakash Bhupalsingh Nimbalkar, Sanjay Dina Patil, Sanjay Uttamrao Deshmukh and Nagesh Bapurao Patil Ashtikar -- formally joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Monday. The development reduced former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's strength in the Lok Sabha to three MPs and marked another major setback for the Shiv Sena (UBT) following the split in the party in 2022.

'Operation Tiger is successful,' says Shinde

Leading celebrations after the induction of the MPs, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde declared that "Operation Tiger" had been successful. "I don't leave anything half done. Operation Tiger is successful," Shinde said. He said the move was completed in line with constitutional provisions and parliamentary procedures, asserting that the MPs had joined the party for development-focused governance and constituency work.

NCP (SP) leader calls defections 'unprecedented'

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Jayant Patil also reacted to the developments, saying such large-scale political shifts were unprecedented. "On such a massive scale, people had never switched parties like this before," Patil said.

War of Words Intensifies

The Shiv Sena (UBT) had nine MPs in the Lok Sabha. The Parliamentary Party meeting called by Shiv Sena (UBT) last week was attended by three Lok Sabha MPs. The party had said it had begun disciplinary proceedings against the six rebel MPs.

The rebellion has triggered an intense war of words between the two factions. While Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders have accused the defecting MPs of betraying the party's ideology and mandate, leaders of the Shinde faction have maintained that the lawmakers joined them out of confidence in Shinde's leadership and dissatisfaction with the Uddhav Thackeray-led camp.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)