The shadow of ‘Operation Lotus’ which has allegedly been launched by the BJP seems to have grown larger after NCP (Sharad Pawar) MP Bajrang Sonawane met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday in Delhi, while seven Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena MPs met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.

It may be recalled that on Wednesday, BJP leader Pravin Darekar had claimed that some Members of Parliament (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.

Sources said that the seven Thackeray-led Sena MPs had requested a meeting with Prime Minister Modi since last week, but they were not given any appointment. However, on Thursday the seven MPs were finally given some time to meet the PM, it is learnt.

The exact purpose behind the meeting remains unknown but the meeting of the seven Thackeray-led Sena MPs with Modi is considered politically significant. Yet, it is also known that MPs of several parties tend to meet the Prime Minister when the Parliament is in session. Therefore, it is being intensely speculated in political circles whether the meeting of Thackeray-led Sena MPs with the PM is merely a part of a tradition of such goodwill visits or there are some other ominous and politically significant reasons behind it.

Significantly, Thursday’s development has come only a day after Maharashtra State BJP President Chandrasekhar Bawankule claimed in Mumbai on Wednesday that some MLAs and Members of Parliament (MPs) of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) parties, including those from the Congress in Maharashtra, are in touch with the BJP.

Bawankule’s claim sparked off speculation on Wednesday that the BJP has launched an ‘Operation Lotus’ to lure opposition Congress-led MVA MLAs and MPS, get them to resign and then get them re-elected so that they could join the BJP-led Mahayuti ruling alliance. It was alleged that efforts are on to use disgruntled MVA MPs to strengthen the BJP-led NDA alliance in the Lok Sabha, where it depends on support from from the Nitish Kumar-led JD (U) and the Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP), so that the NDA will be less dependent on Nitish Kumar and Naidu.

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

Reacting to such BJP claims, Rajya Sabha MP and senior Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had said on Wednesday that, “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’ on Wednesday, Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar had 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 on 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”.