Sulking Eknath Shinde skips two urban development meetings

CM Fadnavis had convened meetings with the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar Metropolitan Region Development Authority, the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the Nashik Metropolitan Region Development Authority

Mumbai: In the latest incident highlighting the running feud between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday skipped two meetings chaired by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis concerning the urban development department, which is headed by the Shiv Sena chief. Shinde instead chose to attend a religious function at Malanggad near Kalyan.

Sulking Eknath Shinde skips two urban development meetings

Fadnavis had convened meetings with the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar Metropolitan Region Development Authority, the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the Nashik Metropolitan Region Development Authority. The three agencies come under the administrative jurisdiction of the state urban development department led by Shinde. Two other Shiv Sena leaders — deputy chairperson of the legislative council, Neelam Gorhe, and social welfare minister Sanjay Shirsat — were present for the Pune and Sambhaji Nagar meetings.

While Shinde skipping the meetings raised a flutter in Mantralaya, Shiv Sena spokesperson and MP Naresh Mhaske played down the matter. “Shinde saheb has always attended the function at Malanggad and, hence, did not go [for the meetings]. He has never skipped the Malanggad function.”

Relations between Shinde and Fadnavis have soured after the latter replaced the former as Maharashtra chief minister in December. This was after Fadnavis’s BJP won 132 seats — just 13 short of an outright majority — in the assembly elections. Shinde’s Sena, which is in alliance with the BJP, won 57 seats.

After being forced to concede the chief minister’s chair, a sulking Shinde bargained for the state home department. Eventually, he had to settle for the urban development and housing departments, along with sharing the deputy chief minister’s post with the Nationalist Congress Party chief, Ajit Pawar.

Since becoming CM, Fadnavis has seized every opportunity to assert his authority over Shinde. For instance, the Shiv Sena chief was initially excluded from the state disaster management committee, while Pawar was included. On Tuesday, the Mahayuti government reversed its decision and had to amend the rules to accommodate Shinde on the panel.

Fadnavis earlier also ordered an investigation into the procurement of buses for the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) when Shinde was chief minister and held the transport portfolio in the previous Mahayuti government. More recently, the chief minister appointed an IAS officer to head the MSRTC, a post traditionally held by the transport minister—currently the Shiv Sena’s Pratap Sarnaik.

The Shiv Sena is also upset with the BJP after being denied the guardian minister’s post for the Raigad and Nashik districts. After the party made its displeasure clear, the Mahayuti government put a hold on its decision to appoint the NCP’s Aditi Tatkare and the BJP’s Girish Mahajan as the guardian ministers of Raigad and Nashik, respectively.