Overview
- A coordinated operation that organisers call 'Operation Tiger' resulted in six of nine Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha MPs formally joining the Eknath Shinde‑led Shiv Sena, a shift that unfolded on Monday and was publicised at an induction event in Mumbai.
- The defecting MPs say they left because they lacked access to state development support and wanted to deliver projects for their constituencies, with several publicly citing an inability to fund large works without ruling‑party backing.
- Independent data from the central MPLADS portal, published by multiple outlets, shows those six MPs had used only about 1% to 27% of their available local development funds over the reviewed period, a figure their former colleagues cite to dispute the MPs' funding claims.
- Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders have accused the defectors of being bought with large payments, said they shared financial trail claims with enforcement agencies, and the defectors deny those allegations; both sides have escalated the dispute with sharp rhetoric over Balasaheb Thackeray’s legacy.
- Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has summoned UBT representatives to present their case, leaving formal recognition and anti‑defection adjudication as the next institutional steps and creating scope for further defections or legal challenges that could reshape the party’s parliamentary standing.