Op Tiger in full swing? 4 Sena (UBT) MPs present at Shinde's Delhi event

Eknath Shinde hit the Shiv Sena (UBT) where it hurts by inducting Rajan Salvi into his camp on Thursday.

- Yogesh Naik and Shailesh Gaikwad

MUMBAI: But more than stealing a senior Sena (UBT) leader, the Shiv Sena chief appears to have signaled the launch of 'Operation Tiger' - his campaign to poach leaders from the rival Sena (UBT), a strategic move ahead of local body elections in Maharashtra later this year.

Fuelling this suspicion, four of the Sena (UBT)'s eight MPs were spotted mingling with the Shinde-led Sena in Delhi earlier this week. Three of them attended a dinner hosted by Sena Union minister Prataprao Jadhav on Wednesday. Another MP, Sanjay Patil, attended an event that has caused much heartburn in the Sena (UBT) camp - Shinde's felicitation by NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Patil went on to attend the post-felicitation dinner hosted by Shinde's son Shrikant, a Sena MP.

To contain the damage, Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray had a closed-door meeting with party MPs, in which they were advised to steer clear of rival party leaders.

Possibly marking the launch Operation Tiger, Sena (UBT) deputy leader Rajan Salvi crossed sides and was inducted into the Sena in the presence of Shinde, industries minister Uday Samant and Rajapur MLA Kiran Samant on Thursday. A three-time MLA, Salvi had stood by Thackeray when Shinde split the party in 2022.

However, Salvi has been disenchanted with the Sena (UBT) since last year's assembly election, where he was defeated by the Sena's Kiran Samant. Salvi had blamed senior party leader Vinayak Raut for mishandling the party organisation in the Konkan and complained to Uddhav Thackeray. However, Thackeray admonished him, apparently the trigger for Salvi deciding to switch sides.

Significantly, Salvi is an arch rival of the Sena's Uday Samant, who hails from Ratnagiri in the Konkan. Salvi and the Samant brothers - Uday and Kiran - met on Wednesday night at Shinde's behest, to resolve their differences. They seemed to have patched things up as the Samants were present for Salvi's induction.