Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday, 25 June flatly dismissed speculation of a rebellion within his party, declaring that not one of his legislators would defect. The veteran politician made the remarks in Pune, accompanied by his grandnephew Yugendra Pawar, as Maharashtra's political landscape reeled from the aftershocks of a coordinated mass defection that has shaken the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition.

What 'Operation Tiger' Did to the Opposition

The immediate trigger for Pawar's reassurance was the successful execution of 'Operation Tiger' over the preceding weekend — a coordinated defection engineered by the faction loyal to Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The operation pulled six out of nine Lok Sabha Members of Parliament from the Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray, dramatically altering the parliamentary arithmetic for the opposition.

The scale of the defection has intensified fears within MVA circles that the ruling Mahayuti alliance — comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shinde's Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar's NCP — could next set its sights on the 10 MLAs still with Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP). It is the third major defection episode to destabilise Maharashtra's opposition in recent years.

Supriya Sule Issues an Open Challenge

NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule took a combative stance against NCP (Ajit Pawar) legislator Baba Atram, who had claimed that the Sharad Pawar faction's remaining MPs were ready to split. Sule issued a pointed public dare: 'Give us the five names you claim are leaving. If you can't, stop the rumours. Or better yet, invite us — all eight of our remaining MPs will show up together. Why don't they ever dare to invite me to these discussions?'

Sule also addressed reports about 13 MLAs missing a recent MVA meeting, clarifying that the legislators had informed party state chief Shashikant Shinde in advance. She dismissed any suggestion of an internal rift.

Sule on the INDIA Bloc and Daily Strategy Sessions

Sule reaffirmed the cohesion of both the national INDIA bloc and the state-level MVA alliance, citing daily coordination meetings at the office of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. 'The opposition alliance is incredibly robust. We meet at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge's office every single morning at 10:00 AM to align our daily strategy, floor management, and speakers,' she said.

She also called for keeping political rivalries out of cooperative institutions, using the Mumbai Bank elections as an example of multi-party coexistence, and urged that co-operatives and financial institutions not be turned into political battlegrounds.

Sule Attacks Centre Over NCERT and Democratic Erosion

Sule trained her fire on the Central government on two additional fronts. She raised alarm over reports that the history of the 1975 Emergency would be aggressively introduced into school textbooks via NCERT, warning: 'Forcing a singular political ideology onto the next generation is highly dangerous for the unity and intellectual growth of our country.'

Reacting to reports that the six rebel UBT parliamentarians had originally intended to join the BJP but were redirected toward Shinde's camp through the backroom intervention of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Sule questioned the state of Indian democracy. 'I honestly wonder if democracy has ceased to exist in this country. Breaking homes and splitting parties has become the norm. These MPs were elected just two and a half years ago, and the next general elections are scheduled for 2029. What was the absolute hurry?' she asked. She also reminded the ruling alliance that the Congress had historically extended support to the government on critical legislation — including the passage of the GST bill — without political coercion.

With Maharashtra's political chessboard shifting rapidly, all eyes are now on whether the Mahayuti alliance will move against NCP (SP)'s legislative bloc — and whether Pawar's assurances hold.