'Operation Keechad': Congress targets BJP after Shinde camp triggers new Uddhav Sena crisis

Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde (R)

NEW DELHI: Congress on Monday fiercely targeted the BJP over its ally Eknath Shinde-led "Operation Tiger", aimed at further weakening Uddhav Thackeray's camp. Referring to the BJP's "Operation Lotus" and its push for a "Congress-mukt Bharat", senior Congress leader Pawan Khera slammed the saffron party and questioned the "intention behind this dacoity".Speaking to reporters after the latest setback to

Shiv Sena

(UBT), Khera dubbed the exercise "Operation Keechad".This breakaway from Sena UBT would be second major blow inflicted on Uddhav Thackeray's party in the last four years by

Eknath Shinde

, once a loyal Thackeray aide and now chief of the "real" Shiv Sena.He said, "This is Operation Keechad because the Lotus could not flower in these constituencies. Our question is: why is he so hurt that he stopped at 240 seats instead of 400? Why is he now busy stealing MPs from other parties like the TMC and now Shiv Sena? What is the intention? Is the intention to actually change the Constitution? ... What is the intention behind this dacoity?"

Khera's scathing remarks came after six of Shiv Sena (UBT)'s nine Lok Sabha members decided to join Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde's camp and extend support to the ruling NDA.The development also follows another setback for an INDIA bloc party in West Bengal. Trinamool Congress

, after suffering a stinging defeat at the hands of the BJP in the state, lost a major number of MPs. Twenty of its Lok Sabha members broke away from Mamata Banerjee's camp and offered support to the ruling NDA as a separate group, with Kakoli Dastidar as their leader.