Sanjay Raut claims Rs 50 crore offered to ‘lure’ Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs

Mumbai (IANS): Amid buzz over ‘Operation Tiger’—an alleged Shinde faction plot to lure Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs—party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut has alleged that heavy monetary transactions engineered the defection.

In a series of posts on X, Raut sarcastically wrote, “Apna Sapna Money Money! It’s shocking and revolting that Maharashtra MPs are reportedly being offered Rs 15 crore each tonight to switch sides.”

Replying to Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, he added, “The Minimum Support Price is fixed at Rs 50 crore per MP… Rs 15 crore is just the advance. Frankly, these people aren’t even worth Rs 50,000. Their price has only gone up because of the Shiv Sena and TMC brand label.”

His post added, “A chartered plane lands at Nanded Airport. Under the guise of Operation Tiger, it picks up two MPs and takes off. They didn’t have the means to even travel by rickshaw. Thanks to Thackeray’s name, their worth has risen to the level of flying in private jets. An account of every single thing will be taken. The escape of cowardly foxes has been thwarted.”

Countering media reports that six party MPs had already landed in New Delhi, Raut remarked, “The magic of the media is this. Nashik’s MP Rajabhau Waje has left for Delhi for the industry committee meeting, but the news here is showing something entirely different. Nagesh Ashtekar, Hingoli MP, said, ‘I’m in Hingoli, but these people can forge my fake signature!’ Now, these people, who are doing this. This time, the public and the Shiv Sainiks won’t let them off the hook. That’s for sure!”

Earlier, in a pre-emptive move against a brewing political rebellion, Arvind Sawant, the Shiv Sena (UBT) Leader in the Lok Sabha, petitioned Speaker Om Birla. He sought Birla’s intervention to block any attempts by disgruntled lawmakers to orchestrate a fresh split or merger in the Lower House of Parliament. Sawant wrote the extensive four-page letter, dated June 16, amid swirling media reports that up to seven of the party’s nine Lok Sabha MPs are contemplating breaking away to align with the rival Eknath Shinde-led faction or other political forces.

Sawant flagged these backroom manoeuvres. “Reports are appearing in the media that certain Members of Parliament elected on the symbol of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) have either approached, or are contemplating approaching, your office seeking recognition as a separate group or a merger with another political party within the Lok Sabha,” Sawant said.

Sawant emphasised that the parliamentary wing owes its existence entirely to the parent organisational party and that the constitutional framework does not permit “multiple competing formations” to represent the same political party inside the House.

A core segment of Sawant’s petition relied heavily on constitutional law and judicial precedent to dismantle the strategy that defecting factions often use.