Shinde Hits a ‘Sixer’: Six UBT MPs Switch Sides as Operation Tiger Shakes Maharashtra

Key Highlights

• 6 Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha MPs - Sanjay Jadhav, Wakchaure, Nimbalkar, Sanjay Dina Patil, Deshmukh and Ashtikar officially joined Eknath Shinde's faction on June 22
• UBT's Lok Sabha strength in Maharashtra crashes from 9 seats to just 3
• 50+ Vasai branch chiefs, department heads and grassroots workers walked out of UBT and joined BJP
• Eknath Shinde declared "Operation Tiger complete" and called it a "sixer"
• Shinde warns more defections are coming "this is just the trailer"
• Sanjay Raut fires back, issues show-cause notices and threatens disqualification of rebel MPs
• Shiv Sena becomes second-largest party in Maharashtra in terms of Lok Sabha MPs
• Uddhav Thackeray vows never to hand Shiv Sena to "any thief"

The political earthquake rattling Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) is no longer confined to Parliament. It has now reached the ground level and Vasai is the latest proof. 

Also Read| 4,399 Days and Counting: The Extraordinary Journey of Narendra Modi - India's Longest-Serving Elected Prime Minister

More than 50 Shiv Sena (UBT) members including branch chiefs, department heads and grassroots party workers walked out of the Thackeray camp and formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday. The mass induction took place at the MLA public outreach office in Vasai West, in the presence of local MLA Sneha Dubey Pandit. 

The crossover is not just a numbers game. It hits Shiv Sena (UBT) where it hurts most its local organisational machinery. When branch chiefs and department heads leave, the party loses its ability to mobilise voters at the booth level. Political observers describe this as a serious hollowing-out of the Thackeray faction's presence in the Vasai constituency.

What Is 'Operation Tiger'?

The Vasai mass-joining is part of a larger and accelerating political strategy that Maharashtra's ruling Mahayuti alliance has branded 'Operation Tiger'  a coordinated drive by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena to pull leaders and workers away from the Uddhav camp and into the ruling fold.

Also Read| Amid BJP Exit, Annamalai Launches 'We The Leaders' to Challenge Tamil Nadu's Political Order

The operation scored its biggest victory just a day earlier, on June 22, when six rebel Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha MPs formally joined the Shinde faction at a press conference in Mumbai. The MPs Sanjay Haribhau Jadhav, Bhausaheb Rajaram Wakchaure, Omprakash Bhupalsingh Nimbalkar, Sanjay Dina Patil, Sanjay Uttamrao Deshmukh and Nagesh Bapurao Patil Ashtikar had already skipped a party whip meeting in New Delhi, signalling their departure well before making it official.

Shinde declared at the press conference: "Operation Tiger is complete now. These Lok Sabha members have now joined the original Shiv Sena that follows the teachings of Balasaheb Thackeray. Four years back I took a strong step and now I have hit a sixer."

Shinde Promises More: "This Is Just the Trailer"

Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde did not stop at declaring victory. At a press conference in Mumbai on Sunday, he made clear that more defections are in the pipeline.

Shinde said efforts are under way to make the operation "foolproof." He took a pointed dig at Uddhav Thackeray's leadership style, describing a pattern where party workers privately express dissatisfaction but publicly fall in line calling it a "chemical locha" (a Marathi colloquial term for confusion). 

Also Read| Karnataka CM Swearing-In Ceremony: D K Shivakumar Takes Oath as Chief Minister

Earlier, at Shiv Sena's 60th foundation day event, Shinde had said: "Everyone is looking toward us, wondering what Eknath Shinde will say and who will come onto the stage. This is just the trailer; the full picture is yet to come."

BJP and Shinde Camp Celebrate, UBT Fires Back

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier declared that Operation Tiger had been carried out successfully. With six UBT MPs now in the Shinde camp, Shiv Sena has become the second-largest party in Maharashtra in terms of Lok Sabha MPs. 

Shiv Sena (UBT)'s firebrand leader Sanjay Raut did not take it lying down. He issued show-cause notices to the six rebel MPs and announced the party would push for their disqualification.
"The process for taking action has started. We will make every effort to get them disqualified. If the Speaker of the Lok Sabha works according to the rules, the law, and the Supreme Court's directives, these people will be disqualified," Raut said. India 

He also mocked Operation Tiger with a characteristic jab: "The operation is not complete. The patient is not well. A caesarean section will be required."  Aaditya Thackeray, meanwhile, accused the departing MPs of betraying voter trust, pointing out that they were elected on the strength of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the INDIA bloc, with active backing from Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP leaders. 

Also Read| DK Shivakumar Set to Take Oath as Karnataka Chief Minister on June 3

Uddhav Thackeray himself addressed party workers and rejected all allegations, asserting he would step down if the charges against him were proven but vowed he would never hand the Shiv Sena over to "any thief."

Background: A Party Bleeding Since 2022

Shiv Sena (UBT) has been grappling with defections, shifting political equations and reduced electoral traction across Maharashtra ever since the split in the original Shiv Sena. That split engineered by Eknath Shinde in June 2022 brought down the Uddhav-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government and catapulted Shinde to the Chief Minister's chair. 

Shiv Sena (UBT) had won nine Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra in the 2024 General Election. With six of those MPs now gone, the party's parliamentary strength has been slashed to just three. The entry of these MPs into the Shinde Sena also strengthens Shinde's bargaining power within the ruling Mahayuti coalition, which includes the BJP and the NCP. 

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam did not mince words: "By 2029, Uddhav Thackeray's party will be finished. Only Uddhav ji and Sanjay Raut will remain in the party." 

Also Read| Vijay Meets PM Modi In Delhi: What All Was Discussed?

What Happens Next?

The Vasai ground-level defections coming right after the MP exodus show that Operation Tiger is no longer just a Parliament-level story. It is spreading to the constituency level, targeting the very booth workers and local leaders that any party needs to survive an election.

If the trend continues, Shiv Sena (UBT) could find itself without an organisational backbone well before the 2029 elections arrive.

The Uddhav camp's only real leverage now is the legal route pushing for disqualification of the rebel MPs and rallying its remaining base around the loyalty narrative. Whether that holds the tide, or whether Operation Tiger has more chapters left, remains the defining question in Maharashtra politics today.