‘Operation Tiger complete’: Eknath Shinde after 6 Sena MPs switch sides

2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jun 22, 2026 07:51 PM IST

Shinde said, "These Lok Sabha members have now joined the original Shiv Sena that follows the teachings of (party founder) late Balasaheb Thackeray." (File image)

With a formal split in the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday said that ‘Operation Tiger is complete’. After days of speculation, six rebel Lok Sabha MPs, including Sanjay Deshmukh (Yavatmal), Sanjay Jadhav (Parbhani), Sanjay Dina Patil (Mumbai North East), Nagesh Patil-Ashtikar (Hingoli), Omprakash Rajenimbalkar (Dharashiv) and Bhausaheb Wakchaure (Shirdi), joined the Shinde Sena at an event in the presence of Shinde and other senior party leaders.

Shinde, who had led a similar major defection leading to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and subsequently catapulted himself as the Chief Minister of the state four years ago, said his operations are fool-proof and added that Shinde Sena is now the single largest party in the state in terms of MPs.

Shinde said, “These Lok Sabha members have now joined the original Shiv Sena that follows the teachings of (party founder) late Balasaheb Thackeray. Four years back I took a strong step and now I have hit a sixer (a reference to the number of MPs who have switched loyalties).”

“I did it earlier (split Shiv Sena in June 2022) to save the principles of late Balasaheb Thackeray and to save the Shiv Sena. Now, this move (rebellion in the Lok Sabha wing of the Sena UBT) is the second stage of Shiv Sena expansion,” Shinde said.

Five days ago, the rebel MPs had skipped a crucial parliamentary party meeting of the Shiv Sena (UBT) in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by only three Lok Sabha MPs of the Opposition party.

Notably, the MPs who switched to Shinde Sena had defeated BJP and Shiv Sena candidates in the 2024 general elections. The Shiv Sena (UBT) had won nine Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra in 2024.

With PTI inputs