4 Reasons Why Eknath Shinde Attacked Uddhav Thackeray With ‘Bow And Arrow’ Again

Last Updated:June 22, 2026, 14:32 IST

Four reasons behind Eknath Shinde's Operation Tiger explained

Amid the ‘Operation Tiger’ buzz, the key question is why did Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde need the six rebel Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) faction even after the 2022 split?

The answer is to legally consolidate his authority, boost his national leverage within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and systematically dismantle the rival camp’s political legitimacy.

FOUR REASONS WHY EKNATH SHINDE PLANNED ‘OPERATION TIGER’

The critical reasons behind this calculated political move, known as ‘Operation Tiger’, are:

1. Reaching the Legal Two-Thirds Threshold: Under the Indian Constitution’s Tenth Schedule, defecting lawmakers face immediate disqualification unless a minimum of two-thirds of the legislative group breaks away. Because the Shiv Sena (UBT) holds nine Lok Sabha seats, the rebel faction required exactly six MPs to meet this mandatory legal threshold to merge or establish a separate block without losing their parliamentary seats.

2. Enhancing Political Leverage in Delhi: Following the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where the BJP lost its absolute single-party majority, regional allies have secured massive political currency in central governance. Expanding his party’s parliamentary footprint provides Shinde strong a political bargaining chip when dealing with senior BJP leaders in New Delhi. This shields his position inside Maharashtra, especially given the historical underlying friction and power-sharing tensions with state-level BJP leaders.

3. Claiming the “True" Shiv Sena Legacy: Shinde has continually justified his political splits by claiming that Uddhav Thackeray abandoned Bal Thackeray’s core Hindutva principles by aligning with the Congress and NCP. Orchestrating this parliamentary defection allows Shinde to demonstrate that the vast majority of the party’s elected public representatives — both at the state assembly and national parliamentary levels — reject Uddhav’s leadership, thereby vindicating Shinde’s status as the rightful heir to the original party legacy.

4. Cutting Off the Thackeray Camp’s Lifeline: Prior to this rebellion, the Uddhav Thackeray camp’s MPs served as their strongest visible symbols of political survival after losing the official party name, bow-and-arrow symbol, and state assembly majority. Engineering a collapse in the parliamentary wing severely demoralises the UBT cadre and significantly cuts off administrative influence and resource pathways for the rival faction ahead of upcoming electoral battles.

BEHIND THE CHURN

The six rebel MPs—including prominent figures like Nagesh Patil Ashtikar and Omprakash Raje Nimbalkar—pointed to intense developmental fund crunches in their home constituencies while remaining under the opposition banner as a core driver for defecting to the ruling side.

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Manjiri Joshi

At the news desk for 20 years, the story of her life has revolved around finding pun, facts while reporting, on radio, heading a daily newspaper desk, teaching mass media students to now editing speci...Read More

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