Shinde, Fadnavis hold late-night meeting; Sharad Pawar camp says it proves unrest among Shiv Sena MLAs

Mumbai, July 7

Amid apparent disgruntlement among his MLAs, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met Deputy CM and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis late on Thursday night, sources said.

The meeting came days after Shinde denied that his Shiv Sena MLAs were uncomfortable with the inclusion of Ajit Pawar and 8 Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislators in the state cabinet and claimed that he would remain as the chief minister until 2024.

The Maharashtra cabinet now has 29 ministers with the entry of NCP leaders on Sunday. It can accommodate 14 more.

Referring to the late-night meeting, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction said it proves that there is unrest in the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and state BJP over the inclusion of NCP legislators in the cabinet.

Mahesh Tapase, spokesperson of the Sharad Pawar faction, said Shinde’s MLAs feel that if Ajit Pawar and his MLAs get plum posts, the very purpose for which they had rebelled and caused the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government will be rendered futile.

“There is unrest among Shinde’s MLAs on how they will face the electorate again,” Tapase said in a statement.

Tapase claimed that Shiv Sena MLAs are not sure if they will get ministerial berths. “The late-night Shinde Fadnavis meeting proves that there is unrest among the MLAs,” Tapase claimed.

NCP founder Sharad Pawar returned from Delhi late on Thursday night and met his state unit chief Jayant Patil and others at ‘Silver Oak’, his residence in south Mumbai. He will be on a tour of Nashik district on Saturday.

After becoming a part of the ruling alliance, Ajit Pawar had said that NCP would win more than 71 seats. He also said that his party will contest 90 assembly seats.

Meanwhile, former NCP legislator Dhanraj Mahale from Dindori in Nashik district met Ajit Pawar. Pune former corporator Harshada Vanjale, daughter-in-law of late MLA Ramesh Vanjale and her family also met Ajit Pawar and extended their support to him.

BJP legislator Abhimanyu Pawar, a key aide of Devendra Fadnavis, too met Ajit Pawar.

Even though the NCP ministers are yet to get portfolios, Pawar will participate in a programme at the Sahyadri Guest House here to hand over keys of homes allotted through a lottery to mill workers and their kin.