IN A FIX

Ajit Pawar's entry has created a wave of resentment among local leaders of the BJP and the Shinde faction of the Sena

- DNYANESH JATHAR

On July 16, a day before the start of the monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made an interesting remark at the customary media briefing. Explaining how his government's two deputy chief ministers would work together, Shinde said, "Ajit dada [Pawar] is known to start working from early morning, I work late into the night and Devendra ji [Fadnavis] is an all-rounder who can tackle any issue at any hour of the day."While the remark caused some laughter, many observers felt it was an attempt to cover up the unease within the Shinde camp following the induction of Ajit Pawar and his group of Nationalist Congress Party legislators into the state government.

The spin doctors of the ruling alliance are hyping up the grouping of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP and the BJP as a 'Maha Yuti'-grand alliancewhich will fight the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, comprising Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena faction, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP and the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. However, not everyone is convinced about how the new alliance would work on the ground.

While the BJP's central leadership is elated by Ajit's rebellion and his faction's entry into the government, the same cannot be said about Shinde and his party. A few days after Ajit and his eight colleagues took oath as ministers, Shambhuraj Desai, Shinde loyalist and senior cabinet minister, said there was no need to expand the ruling alliance as it already had a comfortable majority. "Now if the Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) reaches out to us with sincerity, we will certainly think about responding positively,"said Desai. Shinde faction MLA Sanjay Shirsat said if everything had to be shared with the Ajit faction, there was no point in being in power.