India, June 23 -- Even as six rebel Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Monday, four Sena (UBT) legislators skipped an urgent meeting convened by party chief Uddhav Thackeray at his residence, Matoshree, giving further grist to speculations about 'Operation Tiger' - the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) bid to engineer defections from opposition parties in Maharashtra - spreading to state politics.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has 20 members in the legislative assembly and five members in the legislative council. The four legislators who skipped the meeting on Monday were Wani (Yavatmal) MLA Sanjay Derkar, Parbhani MLA Rahul Patil and Kalina MLA Sanjay Potnis and legislative council member Sunil Shinde.

Shiv ...