The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) suffered another setback on Tuesday as party MLC Sachin Ahir accepted the backing of rival Sena camp leader Eknath Shinde for election as the deputy chairperson of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.Hours before Ahir filed the nomination for the post, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde hailed him as a grassroots worker and said the BJP-led Mahayuti would back his nomination for the key post. Apart from Shinde, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and NCP’s Jattvibeetra Pawar were also present during Ahir’s nomination.Earlier in the day, Ahir stunned everyone when he filed the nomination as a candidate backed by the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance.“Shiv Sena legislators had elected Sachin Ahir to the legislative council earlier, and the ruling party is now backing him for the post of deputy chairman of the council,” Shinde said.He said Ahir, a former minister of state, has filed his nomination for the deputy chairman’s post with the support of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, and is expected to be elected comfortably given the coalition’s numerical strength.The election is scheduled for July 1. Ahir has two years to go as MLC, tenure for which is six years.While Aditya Thackeray took a grim view of the development, Shinde said, “We are not here to break anything. We are connecting with new people, and they are joining us.”On Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray’s remarks that this was ‘Operation Devendra Fadnavis’ rather than ‘Operation Tiger’, Shinde said in 2019, Fadnavis had made 50 calls to Uddhav, but all went unanswered.“During the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, false cases were filed and the police were sent to ‘Sagar’ (Fadnavis residence). Now, he (Uddhav) is suddenly expressing concerns for Fadnavis. These are crocodile tears, and Fadnavis knows it well,” Shinde said.Without naming Uddhav, Shinde further said he had never seen anyone change colours so fast.