The Game Has Just Begun

OUTREACH | Fadnavis calls on Shinde, ice-breaker serves as meeting ground for reconciling differences over portfolios. Mahayuti 2 to stake claim today

- Ravikiran Deshmukh

The Maharashtra jigsaw puzzle is falling in place: the first indication of this came with the BJP outreach and the Devendra Fadnavis-Eknath Shinde ice-breaker at the caretaker CM's official residence Varsha.

The outreach - just before the BJP legislative party was due to elect its leader - was immediately seen as an attempt by the elder brother (read BJP) to retrieve the situation, which had almost veered to a point of no return.

Although the details of the meeting that lasted close to 45 minutes were not known, both the leaders were meeting for the first time after their photo op with Home Minister Amit Shah.

Though for Devendra Fadnavis the meeting was a necessary prelude to formally staking claim and reclaiming the Chief Minister's chair, for Shinde and his bruised ego it was a much needed political balm. If the meeting with Shah was all about optics, this one was all about political symbolism and the message the Shiv Sena chief wants to send to his political constituency.

With the decks cleared for the coalition government, it is now a matter of reconciling differences over the sticking points - the key portfolios and Shinde's 'face-saver'.

By night time, a tentative list of ministerial candidates was doing the rounds, giving a glimpse into the possible composition of this fragile coalition.