Sena may revive Operation Tiger to counter possible reunion of Thackerays
Shiv Sena
politicians are planning a fresh round of Operation Tiger to poach members of Sena (UBT) to counter the possible reunion between Thackeray cousins for the upcoming civic poll.
UBT chief
Uddhav Thackeray
and MNS chief Raj Thackeray came together after almost 18 years to address a joint rally in Mumbai over the Marathi-Hindi language row on Saturday. During the rally, Uddhav hinted that the cousins would likely stay united politically. Although there has been no formal announcement from either party about an alliance for the civic poll, Mahayuti members have started to take action to counter a possible reunion.
Sena members as also political observers feel the Thackeray reunion may affect deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde's party in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Therefore, they are approaching UBT members in these cities.
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"In the coming days, members of the opposition from the said cities will join our party. There are several aspirants for polls in civic bodies and they will switch before the announcement of the election dates," a senior Sena member told TOI.
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He said the party is involved in dialogues with some UBT workers to convince them to switch sides. The party had initiated a similar strategy after the assembly poll and named it Operation Tiger.
"Over the last few months, several UBT politicians have joined Sena, since they see a bright future with us. Many former members of UBT want to be with the govt, despite talks regarding the Thackeray cousins coming together. We will induct some of them into our party soon," said the senior Sena member.
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