Today, Eknath Shinde had warm words of welcome for Ajit Pawar.
Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party -- caught unawares by his nephew Ajit Pawar's abrupt crossover to the ruling alliance -- today declared that it is not good news for Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The BJP's aim, the party hinted, was to look for a replacement for Mr Shinde, whose partnership with Devendra Fadnavis is said to have hit too many bumps.
"Eknath Shinde's power will be reduced," said senior NCP leader Jayant Patil, who spelt out the party's stand regarding Ajit Pawar's claims of the whole party supporting his crossover, at a press conference this evening.
As reason, he claimed that "some people did not like the way the Chief Minister works".
"Now to reduce his (Eknath Shinde's) importance, Ajit Pawar has been added in the government that's already in majority," Mr Patil said.
While the BJP -- which had far bigger numbers -- allowed Mr Shinde to head the government after the government led by Uddhav Thackeray collapsed, there has been friction since. Leaders of Mr Shinde's faction have claimed that the BJP has been trying to play the big brother.
There have been reports that the BJP wants 10 ministers from the Shinde faction dropped ahead of the coming reshuffle of the state cabinet to make space for the NCP ministers.
In April, Mr Shinde's faction had said if Ajit Pawar joined the alliance with other leaders of NCP, they will quit being part of the government. The matter was said to have been sorted with the intervention of Union Minister and the BJP's chief strategist Amit Shah, who met both Mr Shinde and Ajit Pawar in Delhi last week.
Today, Mr Shinde had warm words of welcome for the NCP leader.
"Now the double engine government has a triple engine. The state will sprint (on the path of development). Now we have one Chief Minister and two deputy chief ministers. This will help faster development of the state," he said.
The BJP has not commented on the matter. Sources in the party said Ajit Pawar's decision to extend support to the alliance government is a result of the Congress "trying to foist Rahul Gandhi as the leader of Opposition and PM candidate for 2024".
"Rahul Gandhi and the Congress's high handedness is the reason for NCP breaking ranks," a leader said.