Maharashtra State BJP President Chandrasekhar Bawankule and other Mahayuti ruling alliance leaders claimed in Mumbai on Wednesday that some disgruntled MLAs and Members of Parliament (MPs) of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) parties, including those of Congress, are in touch with the saffron party.

The development has sparked speculation that the BJP might launch an Operation Lotus’ to lure the MLAs and MPS of the Congress-led MVA to resign and get re-elected to join the BJP-led Mahayuti ruling alliance. It has been alleged that efforts are on to use the MVA MPs to strengthen the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha, where it depends on the support from the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) and the Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to minimise the alliance’s dependence
on two parties.

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However, Bawankule said, “We do not have to launch Operation Lotus as MVA leaders themselves have been expressing their unease to us and many of them are in touch with the BJP. MVA’s problem is that they cannot keep their people happy. There are complaints from them that their (MVA) parties are ignoring them and that they are not getting any support from their parties. They have complained that no meetings are being held on the situation in their constituencies.”

He said there is no conscious effort to get MVA leaders to switch sides. “MVA claims that investigative agencies like the ED and the CBI are being used against them, but they are merely doing their work. We have nothing to do with them. However, if anyone comes to join our party under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis, to support Modi’s vision of a developed India, then they are most welcome,” Bawankule said.

In a related development, BJP leader Pravin Darekar claimed that some MPs of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) could cross over to the BJP after their party’s dismal performance in the recently concluded Maharashtra assembly election.

According to Darekar, several MVA MPs, especially those from the NCP (SP), represent constituencies where the BJP-led alliance won most seats in the assembly elections. “If their priority is development, with both the central and state governments controlled by the BJP-led alliance, they may consider their political future carefully,” Darekar said.

Shinde-led Shiv Sena MLA Naresh Mhaske also claimed that several MLAs and even MPs from the constituent parties of the MVA are in touch with the Mahayuti parties. “Several MLAs and MPs of the MVA parties are in touch with our party (Shinde-led Sena) as well as the BJP. Soon the picture will become clear in Maharashtra. The fact is that MVA MLAs are fed up with their own parties”.

However, NCP (SP) leader Vidya Chavan was quick to dismiss Darekar’s claims. She said that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is dependent on support from the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) and the Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Yet, Rajya Sabha MP and senior Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said, “The BJP is very much capable of such operations because it has no dearth of money and power. BJP is capable of creating terror by using the state machinery to split parties and lure away their leaders. The best examples are Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar. Such things could happen again”.

Talking about BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’, Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said that “Dictatorship has started in the country and this is no longer hidden. If the BJP plans to launch ‘Operation Lotus’ based on money power and political power, then we believe that the people of this land will give them (BJP) the appropriate answer at the appropriate time”.

Reacting to the meeting between industrialist Gautam Adani and Maharashtra Chief Minister on Tuesday, senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said that Gautam Adani is crucial to the government. He said, “Meetings happen. Adani is the person who can make or break the government. He is the only person who can do it in India. I don’t know what the meeting was about. We hope it was for industrial development in Maharashtra and job creation”.