Crisis in Maha Yuti? Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena ministers skip Maharashtra Cabinet meeting

Mumbai: The nearly one-year-old Devendra Fadnavis-headed Maha Yuti government plunged into a crisis with the ministers of the Shiv Sena staying away from the weekly Cabinet meeting even as the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi slammed the BJP.

Only Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who is the chief leader of the Shiv Sena, attended the meeting.

The Shiv Sena was upset over the BJP inducting a large number of its party workers, particularly in the Thane district, considered the bastion of Shinde, who is the Deputy Chief Minister.

Shinde, however, attended the Cabinet meeting and two other meetings including the Cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure and the deliberations to tackle the crisis including human-leopard conflicts.

Neither Fadnavis nor Shinde has commented on the issue.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, however, downplayed and distanced NCP from the developments.

The recent defections from Shiv Sena to the BJP in Kalyan-Dombivli seem to be the trigger point for the crisis. Incidentally, the state BJP President Ravindra Chavan hails from Dombivli.

Shinde is an MLA from Thane city his son Dr Shrikant Shinde is an MP from Kalyan and Kalyan-Dombivli comes under it.

In the morning, the Shiv Sena held its pre-Cabinet meeting and then a group led by Shinde met Fadnavis and complained to them of what had happened in Kalyan-Dombivli and other places.

Fadnavis has apparently pointed out to them that it was the Shiv Sena which first admitted BJP members in its fold in Ulhasnagar.

Later a series of meetings were held involving leaders to the two parties - state Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule met Shinde while the latter’s aide and state Industry Minister Uday Samant met Chavan.

"There is no disgruntlement. There was no boycott of the cabinet meeting," said Samant, who also skipped the meeting.

“The strength of the members in the Cabinet meeting were less,” said Bawankule, adding that Shinde and Pawar were present in the meeting. “There are no problems,” he said.

In a related development, Bawankule is meeting Shinde..

On the other hand, state Disaster Management Minister Girish Mahajan said that there is no dispute at all. "You cannot call it a boycott of Cabinet meetings as the majority of ministers were present," he added. “(Minister of Minister of State) Yogesh Kadam is in Khed (in Ratnagiri, which is part of his constituency). (Tourism Minister) Shambhuraj Desai is in his constituency. (Soil and Water Conservation Minister) Sanjay Rathod's mother passed away, so he is in his constituency. I had a routine check-up, so I was in the hospital," said Samant.

Maha Yuti not to poach each others leaders, workers

Shinde aide and Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik claimed that a solution was found with the decision that the Maha Yuti allies should refrain from inducting each other's leaders, office-bearers or former corporators. “This is what the allies (BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP) decided…it would be implemented from now,” he said. “There are issues even in a family and this is a Mahayuti government of three parties. Emotions have to be expressed before one another. We, along with Shinde, met the CM and shared our emotions. In 10 minutes, there was a solution to this," he said.

Ajit Pawar plays down rift

Deputy Chief Minister and NCP President Ajit Pawar downplayed the crisis involving the Maha Yuti. “I was under the impression that the absence of Shiv Sena ministers was due to the scrutiny of nomination papers for the December 2 municipal council polls. In fact, Makrand Patil from the NCP was absent while Hasan Mushrif left early. Had I known about Shiv Sena ministers being upset, I would have asked Eknath Shinde about it. But I did not sense any disgruntlement," Pawar said.

According to him, all parties have the right to expand their footprint and improve their support base. ”This happens more when elections are round the corner," he said.