The Maharashtra legislature's monsoon session commenced on Monday, 23 June 2025 at the Vidhan Bhavan, Mumbai, opening a three-week legislative calendar that runs until 10 July 2025 — and doing so under the twin shadows of an alleged political defection plot and a deepening agrarian crisis driven by an erratic monsoon.

Operation Tiger: The defection threat hanging over the session

The session's most charged undercurrent is what political circles are calling 'Operation Tiger' — an alleged plan by the ruling Mahayuti alliance to engineer the defection of up to six Lok Sabha MPs from Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT). The political temperature peaked ahead of the session when Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, speaking at the party's 60th foundation day, publicly branded the reportedly targeted lawmakers as 'shameless and ungrateful.'

In a counter-signal, Shiv Sena (UBT) strategist Sanjay Raut has threatened to launch 'Operation Wolf' — aggressive, disruptive floor action aimed at destabilising the ruling coalition. The session is also set to begin without an officially recognised Leader of Opposition in either the Assembly or the Council, a structural vacuum that the treasury benches are expected to exploit to push legislative business through with minimal organised resistance.

Deputy Chairperson election and legislative agenda

The ruling alliance is expected to call an election to the post of Deputy Chairperson of the Maharashtra Legislative Council during the first week. Shiv Sena leader Neelam Gorhe, who previously held the post, has been re-elected to the Upper House and is widely expected to be renominated — a move the Mahayuti's numerical strength makes near-certain.

On the legislative front, the government proposes to table a bill to empower women farmers, announce a package of policy measures for the broader farming community, and push revenue department reforms aimed at simplifying procedures for the general public. Supplementary budget demands are also up for clearance in the first week, which is likely to trigger the loudest floor confrontations.

Farm crisis: The real-world crisis outside Vidhan Bhavan

Beyond the political theatre, Maharashtra's agrarian sector is under acute stress. A prolonged and highly erratic monsoon has disrupted the kharif sowing cycle, with the government already advising farmers not to rush sowing pending further directives from the weather bureau. Water levels across more than 3,000 reservoirs in the state have been depleting rapidly, and officials have launched a series of mitigation measures.

The opposition, however, argues the government was unprepared for the El Niño-driven drought-like conditions. It is armed to corner the treasury benches on the stringent eligibility conditions attached to the state's ₹36,585 crore farm loan waiver scheme, demanding unconditional waivers and immediate compensation for dry-spell and crop-loss-affected farmers.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Agriculture Minister Datta Bharane have maintained that major restrictions on the loan waiver scheme have been removed and that the government is doing everything possible to extend benefits. Bharane stated that more than 40 lakh farmers have already received relief under the scheme.

Opposition's wider battle plan

The opposition is not limiting its fire to agriculture. It is geared to raise a broad front of issues: inflation linked to the West Asia conflict, the NEET examination controversy, crimes against women, law and order, the contentious dispute over Maratha OBC reservations, the SIR (Socio-Economic and Institutional Research) exercise, and the politically sensitive question of sub-categorisation of Scheduled Caste (SC) reservations.

The ruling Mahayuti, for its part, is prepared to counter with a record of achievements on Maratha and OBC community issues, police modernisation, anti-drug operations, and women's safety. This is, as political observers note, less a routine legislative session and more a contest for psychological dominance — with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar aiming to project stability and governance momentum ahead of a politically consequential period for the state.

What to watch

Expect walkouts, adjournment motions, and floor confrontations from the opening day. The session's outcome — on farm relief, the defection saga, and reservation disputes — will shape Maharashtra's political narrative well beyond 10 July.