MUMBAI: NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar on Monday launched a sharp attack on Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde following the defeat of the Mahayuti alliance’s candidate in the Nashik Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) elections.Referring to the political slogan “Operation Tiger” and the outcome in Nashik, Pawar said, “Till yesterday, Eknath Shinde was likening ‘Operation Tiger’, but when you look at the Nashik results, the hunter ‘Tiger’ got hunted,” according to news agency ANI.Pawar also accused the state government of failing to address farmers’ concerns and announced a major protest on June 29.“We will continue the road blockade until the government makes a decision. We cannot trust this government,” Pawar said.Reiterating his criticism, the NCP-SP leader again referred to recent political developments in Nashik and the “Operation Tiger” narrative.“Till yesterday, Eknath Shinde was supporting ‘Operation Tiger’, but looking at the Nashik results, it appears that the hunter himself has been hunted,” Pawar remarked. The comments come amid ongoing political tensions in Maharashtra over farmer-related issues, including demands for a farm loan waiver, along with shifting alliances and electoral outcomes. Earlier, the ruling Mahayuti alliance registered a strong performance in the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, winning 16 of the 17 seats whose results were declared on Monday. According to news agency ANI, polling for the 17 seats was held on June 18. Six Mahayuti candidates had already been elected unopposed, giving the alliance a significant early advantage. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the biggest winner with 11 seats, while Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) secured three seats and the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) won two. The only seat that did not go to a Mahayuti candidate was Nashik, where Independent candidate and BJP rebel Gokul Gite defeated Shiv Sena nominee Narendra Darade. Gite’s win is being seen as a setback for the Shiv Sena in the constituency. Among those elected unopposed were Ravindra Phatak (Thane) and Dushyant Chaturvedi (Yavatmal) from Shiv Sena, Aniket Tatkare (Raigad-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg) and Vikram Kakade (Pune) from NCP, and Arun Lakhani (Wardha-Chandrapur-Gadchiroli) and Prajakt Tanpure (Ahilyanagar) from BJP. The BJP’s winning candidates included Suhas Shirshat (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-Jalna), Avinash Brahmankar (Bhandara-Gondia), Dhairyashil Kadam (Sangli-Satara), Rajendra Raut (Solapur), Basavaraj Patil (Dharashiv-Latur-Beed), Rajiv Potdar (Nagpur), Nandkishor Mahajan (Jalgaon), Pravin Pote (Amravati) and Amar Rajurkar (Nanded). Shiv Sena’s Saiyed Khan won from the Parbhani-Hingoli constituency. The results further strengthened Mahayuti’s position in Maharashtra’s local self-government institutions and are being seen as a political boost for the ruling alliance ahead of upcoming electoral battles in the state. Maharashtra Legislative Council LoP and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve said, “We fought well. We are fighting to protect the Constitution.” Meanwhile, amid speculation over the possible induction of several Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs into the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, Shiv Sena leader Deepak Kesarkar on Monday said such a development would strengthen both the Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra and the NDA government at the Centre.Kesarkar said the alliance was committed to strengthening the Central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “This will strengthen the Mahayuti. The NDA government at the Centre will become stronger. We all want the Central government to become stronger under the leadership of PM Modi. The country’s progress will be further strengthened with the support of these people,” Kesarkar said. Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray also attacked the BJP amid reports of possible defections of Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs to the Eknath Shinde-led faction, accusing the party of “breaking” UBT MPs and MLAs to secure enough numbers in Parliament. “Today they are breaking our MPs and MLAs as they are willing to change the constitution of Babasaheb Ambedkar. Voters prevented them in 2024, and they got only 240 MPs, but now they are trying that again by breaking parties; their main aim is to change the constitution,” Thackeray said at a press conference. His remarks came amid what has been described as “Operation Tiger,” an alleged move to engineer defections of Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs to the Eknath Shinde-led faction. Thackeray further said that elected representatives were switching sides against the mandate. “All these people were elected on Shiv Sena (UBT) with the help of MVA allies, and now they are switching to the other side against the people’s mandate,” he said. The controversy intensified after a parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi on Thursday was attended by only three of Shiv Sena (UBT)’s nine Lok Sabha MPs. While Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai and Rajabhau Waje attended, six MPs, including Sanjay Dina Patil, were absent.
