Operation Lotus: Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule and his colleague Praveen Darekar on Wednesday claimed that several MPs and MLAs of the Maha Vikas Aghadi ( MVA ) have contacted them and expressed their displeasure with their respective parties. The Congress rejected these claims of the BJP leaders and the party's state president Nana Patole termed them absurd. Bawankule said that the MVA leaders themselves are expressing their uneasiness and many people are in touch with the BJP (to switch sides). In the recently concluded assembly elections, the MVA of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP) performed very poorly and won only 46 seats out of 288 seats. In contrast, the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP alliance Mahayuti won 230 seats. The election results have fueled speculation of MVA MLAs joining the ruling coalition.

Patole said that Bawankule's claim is not worth answering.

Bawankule said there has been no organized effort to persuade MVA leaders to switch parties. The BJP is ready to welcome those who wish to join their vision for a developed country. Patole said Bawankule's claim is not worth responding to. He said all Congress MPs from Maharashtra are with the party. We will show the real position of the Mahayuti in the upcoming winter session of the Maharashtra Legislature in Nagpur.

Earlier, BJP leader Pravin Darekar on Wednesday hinted that some MPs of the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Chandra Pawar) may switch allegiance and join his party if development is their priority. Darekar said that many MPs of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, especially the NCP (SP), represent constituencies where the BJP-led alliance has won the most seats in the assembly elections.

Vidya Chavan refuted Darekar's claims.

The BJP leader said that if development is their priority, they can carefully consider their political future as there is a BJP-led coalition government at the Centre and in the state. Reacting to this, NCP (SP) leader Vidya Chavan rejected Darekar's claims. Vidya said that the BJP-led central government has a weak alliance with leaders like Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu. The government is afraid of losing their support, which is why they adopt such tactics (of luring MPs from opposition parties).

The NCP (SP) leader said that our MPs are firm and will not betray the alliance. Reacting to the comments of the BJP leaders, Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said that if the saffron party is planning to launch 'Operation Lotus' by using money and political power to lure MVA MLAs, the people will give them a befitting reply at the appropriate time. He said that it is no longer a secret that dictatorship has set its feet in the country.