New Delhi, June 17 (IANS) Shiv Sena-UBT leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday backed party MP Sanjay Raut’s allegation that monetary transactions were involved to “lure” party leaders into the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, calling it “Operation Betrayal”.

In a series of posts on X, Raut had sarcastically said: “Apna Sapna Money Money! It’s shocking and revolting that Maharashtra MPs are reportedly being offered Rs 15 crore each tonight to switch sides.”

Speaking to IANS, Chaturvedi said: “If he (Raut) has made such a claim, he must have received some information, which is why he is speaking about it.”

Referring to the rift within the Trinamool Congress, she said: “If we look at the entire background and the way these issues have repeatedly surfaced, including what happened with the Trinamool Congress, and how MP Mahua Moitra has spoken about the kind of adjustments that were made with her and with other MPs, I would not be surprised by such allegations.”

“Even the kids in Maharashtra now know that today honesty can be bought as well as sold (with money),” she remarked.

Chaturvedi asserted that it is not justified if somebody who has won on a particular party’s symbol later says that ‘I won’t give up my seat but will leave the party’. “And this is happening for the second time in two years,” she said, citing the previous split in the Shiv Sena.

“I will call it Operation Betrayal (rather than Operation Tiger),” the Shiv Sena-UBT leader said.

She added: “It is very simple, if someone is disappointed (in the party), he or she can resign and again contest on their own. The (Lok Sabha) Speaker is a constitutional post, so we met him to convey our stand.”

She said that even now, the case between both factions of the Shiv Sena is underway in the Supreme Court. “Now if something like this is again taking place, there is no constitutional validity,” Chaturvedi stressed.

Earlier, in a pre-emptive move against a brewing rebellion, Shiv Sena-UBT leader in the Lok Sabha, Arvind Sawant, in a petition to Speaker Om Birla, sought his intervention to block any attempts by disgruntled lawmakers to orchestrate a fresh split or merger in the lower house of the Parliament.

—IANS

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