‘Op Tiger’ began 6 months ago, key meetings held in Parliament
Mumbai: While 6 rebel Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs joined Dy CM Eknath Shinde’s Sena on Tuesday, ‘Operation Tiger’ was initiated over six months ago, and Shinde Sena’s senior netas had dozens of meetings with the rebel MPs. A 7th MP was also in touch with the Shinde Sena but dropped out after the 2/3rds quot
By Chaitanya Marpakwar
Mumbai: While 6 rebel Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs joined Dy CM Eknath Shinde’s Sena on Tuesday, ‘Operation Tiger’ was initiated over six months ago, and Shinde Sena’s senior netas had dozens of meetings with the rebel MPs.
A 7th MP was also in touch with the Shinde Sena but dropped out after the 2/3rds quota of 6 MPs was completed.Most of the key meetings took place in Parliament and were initiated by MP Shrikant Shinde, who met each of the rebel MPs several times over the last six months to bring them on board one by one, Sena functionaries said.Shrikant Shinde is said to have initiated first contact with the MPs soon after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
All 6 rebel MPs were present in Delhi in person last week when they signed the letter given to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and completed parliamentary formalities for the merger.
All MPs were stationed in Delhi then and did not move cities.Sena functionaries said ‘Operation Tiger’ was delayed because of Dharashiv MP Omraje Nimbalkar, who waited for the verdict in the trial of his father’s murder, or the split would have taken place a few months ago.Shrikant Shinde told TOI that he had a number of meetings with the rebel MPs. “We had several meetings.
Many of our meetings took place in Parliament itself.
Whenever they were in Delhi, we used to meet and we helped with their work in the Central govt as well as state govt.
We resolved all their issues and did not treat them like rivals.
In fact, they got comfort and courtesy like they were in our party.
They were missing this in the Sena (UBT) and after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, none of the top leaders there even met these MPs or visited their constituencies,” Shrikant Shinde, who is a three-time MP from Kalyan, said.Sena functionaries Shrikant was working on getting the rebel MPs on board ‘one MP at a time’ and it was he who built trust among the MPs that the switchover would be smooth.A functionary said, “We had to wait because of Omraje.
All MPs complained they were ignored by the leadership in Sena (UBT) and had no access.
They were left all alone in local body polls, and the party was being driven by an even smaller and tighter coterie than there had been in that party until 2022.”You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Mumbai | Silver Rate in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai | Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Petrol Price in Mumbai | Diesel Price in Mumbai | CNG Price in Mumbai | LPG Price in MumbaiStay updated with the latest Mumbai news.
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