Trouble brewing in Maharashtra? Rift between Shinde and Pawar set to widen after fresh order

Amid speculations about widening rift between Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar (Finance), Shinde has now issued a directive stipulating that cabinet notes and proposals approved by the finance minister must first be routed to Deputy Chief Minister (Home) Devendra Fadnavis before reaching his desk for final approval.

Shinde’s move is being seen as the one aimed at clipping wings of Pawar who has been stepping on the toes of his new colleagues. As per the established regulations, cabinet proposals and notes that receive the finance minister’s approval usually move directly to the chief minister’s office.

Not on good terms

Shinde and Pawar are not getting along well right from the day when the latter joined the government as his deputy in July this year. Known for aggressive style of functioning, Ajit Pawar had hit the ground running, holding a series of meetings with bureaucrats immediately after taking over the charge of finance ministry. He took a string of decisions in the first couple of weeks, which didn’t go down well with CM Shinde who took up the matter with Fadnavis a couple of times, stating that he should be consulted before the finance minister takes any major decision. The issue was not resolved and Shinde even skipped the high-profile inauguration of the Rs 870-crore highway interchange in Pune.

Tension further mounted between Pawar and Shinde when the former assumed responsibility of reviewing infrastructure projects, a role traditionally overseen by Shinde’s war room. Pawar established a parallel entity called the Project Monitoring Unit (PMU), although he later denied any underlying rivalry with Shinde. Pawar emphasised that the PMU was intended to complement the war room's efforts and repeatedly clarified that he had no ambitions of assuming the role of the chief minister. He has also been holding meetings of officers in Pune, sidelining BJP leader and district guardian minister Chandrakant Patil. He has reportedly been allocating funds for constituencies where his party has a stronghold.

Fund allocation

Another move that sparked a controversy in July was the allocation in the Rs 42,000 crore supplementary demands tabled in the monsoon session. It had upset not only the Opposition, but also many MLAs from BJP and Shinde camp. Incidentally, many of Shinde’s MLAs were upset with Pawar’s alleged bias in the distribution of grants during the previous MVA regime. Now with Pawar back as the finance minister, most of Shinde’s legislators are worried as to what future has in store for them. Already they feel that the entry of Ajit Pawar in the ruling alliance has diminished their perceived influence within the government. It has also left many of Shinde’s MLAs and MLCs dissatisfied due to its potential implications on their bargaining power and securing additional cabinet berths.

On the other hand, Opposition leaders are taking jibes at the ruling party leaders in view of the emerging scenario. Opposition leader in assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said: “Soon after Ajit Pawar joined the government, Shinde and Fadnavis have started cutting him to size. This began sooner than expected.”

Meanwhile, taking note of the situation, the BJP’s central leadership has stepped in to initiate firefighting measures. The BJP top brass has sent a communication to key leaders of Maharashtra BJP, Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP that they should form a coordination committee and hold regular meetings perhaps once in a month or once in a fortnight to iron out all the differences. It is obvious that the party has got cautious about the possibility of cracks developing in the Sena-BJP-NCP alliance ahead of the next year’s Lok Sabha elections.