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Maharashtra: Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar meet CM Eknath Shinde at Varsha

2023-07-17 00:00:00.0 铸币报-政治原网页

Amidst the intense power struggle within the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) between rival factions led by Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar, the former, along with fellow Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, arrived at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's official residence, 'Varsha', in Mumbai for a meeting on Monday night.

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Earlier on Monday, Union Minister of State for Social Justice, Ramdas Athawale, met State Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who was among the dissident leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party that joined the Eknath Shinde-led government along with Ajit Pawar, following a split within the party, reported ANI.

On Thursday, Athawale met Ajit Pawar at the latter's residence in Mumbai.

Also read: Maharashtra speaker issues notices to 40 Shiv Sena MLAs including CM Shinde, Uddhav says 'we will seek justice'

After the meeting, Athawale, who heads the Republican Party of India, commented on the merger of Ajit Pawar's faction of the NCP with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance, stating that the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) would further weaken due to this development.

Post 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls, Thackeray severed ties with longstanding ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the contentious issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.

Subsequently, Thackeray formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, comprising the Shiv Sena (prior to its division), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Indian National Congress.

However, in June 2022, a revolt led by Eknath Shinde caused the collapse of the MVA government and a split within the Shiv Sena. As a result, Shinde gained the position of Chief Minister with support from the BJP.

On July 2 this year, Ajit Pawar engineered a split within the Sharad Pawar-led party and joined the Shinde government as the Deputy Chief Minister. Additionally, eight other NCP leaders were also sworn in as ministers in the state cabinet.

Maharashtra has been witnessing intense political developments since the split within the NCP occurred.

(With inputs from ANI)