Amid growing political churn and reports of several MPs defecting to the Eknath Shinde-led faction, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with party leaders to discuss strategy and organisational matters in Mumbai.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday held a meeting with party leaders in Mumbai to discuss upcoming political developments, organisational matters and the legislature's strategy amid growing political churn within the party.
The meeting comes at a time when the Shiv Sena (UBT) is witnessing heightened internal uncertainty over reports of possible defections of several MPs to the Eknath Shinde-led faction and intensified political sparring with the BJP.
Aaditya Thackeray Slams BJP-led Government
Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray launched a sharp attack on the BJP-led central government, questioning its handling of key national issues, including infiltration, inflation, water scarcity, internal security and farmers' welfare.
Reacting to reports on infiltrators entering the country, Aaditya Thackeray said the government had failed on the issue despite being in power for over a decade. "Whose government has it been for 12 years? If the government cannot stop these infiltrators in 12 years, then this is the failure of the BJP," he said.
Responding to the Chief Minister's remarks on "Operation Tiger," he said the government should prioritise governance over political operations. "I think you should talk about all these things, but you should also pay attention to the governance that you want to run, which is running very poorly," he added, questioning the state of foreign policy, internal security, water availability and inflation.
He further alleged that the ruling party was focusing on political exercises instead of addressing public issues. "Keep doing all these 'operation-foperation' things, but if you don't know how to run the government, then resign," he said.
On 'Operation Tiger 2'
On "Operation Tiger 2", Thackeray said the government must focus on the condition of the country and its people, adding that issues concerning farmers, women, health and security were being ignored.
Meanwhile, he also alleged that the BJP was attempting to engineer political realignments by breaking opposition parties. "Today they are breaking our MPs and MLAs... their main aim is to change the Constitution," he alleged.
'Operation Tiger': Defection Fears Intensify
His comments come as the party faces intense political turmoil due to what is being dubbed as "Operation Tiger," an alleged move to engineer a defection of several Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs to the Eknath Shinde-led faction.
Thackeray condemned the shifting loyalties of the party's lawmakers, who he said were elected due to the collective efforts of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). "All these people were elected on Shiv Sena (UBT) with the help of MVA allies, and now they are switching to the other side against the people's mandate," he said.
The UBT leader strongly criticised the BJP-led government's capabilities, claiming, "BJP can riot in the country, put things on rampage, can campaign, but one thing is sure that BJP doesn't know how to rule. We are seeing this in BMC in Mumbai and PMC in Pune."
Aaditya also alleged that the government is misusing public resources to finance these political manoeuvres. "These people don't have money for salaries of employees and welfare schemes, but they have money to buy MPs," he claimed. "I think Shiv Sena is just one that is ours, Shiv Sena (UBT), and the other one is a space of BJP and not Shiv Sena Shinde, etc," he added.
The controversy intensified after a parliamentary party meeting held in New Delhi on Thursday was attended by only three of the party's nine Lok Sabha MPs. While Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai and Rajabhau Waje attended the meeting, six MPs, Nagesh Aashtikar, Sanjay Deshmukh, Sanjay Jadhav, Sanjay Dina Patil, Omprakash Rajenimbalkar and Bhausaheb Wakchaure, remained absent.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut had earlier said that the process of seeking the disqualification of the absent MPs had already begun. The political storm gained momentum after Shiv Sena MLC Chandrakant Raghuvanshi claimed that six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs had expressed confidence in Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and joined his faction. The development comes amid speculation of a fresh split within Shiv Sena (UBT), with reports suggesting that six of the party's nine Lok Sabha MPs may join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. (ANI)
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