India, June 15 -- With five of the nine Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs being physically absent at a meeting called by party chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday, and the claims of the rival Shiv Sena's leaders that 'Operation Tiger' (their mission name to poach on Thackeray's elected representatives) could happen anytime now, a fresh round of the Thackeray-versus-Eknath Shinde battle has begun.

After 19 Trinamool Congress MPs moved to support the BJP-led NDA government, talk began in Maharashtra's political circles on how the equations within the NDA were changing. Shinde's aides said that the BJP was pushing to improve the NDA's strength further, and Shinde, whose numerical strength of seven Lok Sabha MPS seems to be no longer enough, is keen on poach...