Even as competing Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) groups led by Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar fought for power in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray at his residence on Friday.
Devendra Fadnavis, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, met Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at his official residence, Varsha, in Mumbai on Thursday. Earlier in the day, in response to recent reports of discontent among Shiv Sena MLAs over NCP leader Ajit Pawar’s decision to join the Shinde-Fadnavis government, CM Shinde stated that his government has emerged stronger, adding that he has no plans to step down, and dismissing all such reports as “rumours.”
“It is all rumours…,” CM Shinde told the media. In response to the NCP split, Shinde stated that the party should examine everything that was going on within the ranks.
“They (NCP) should introspect on what is happening in their party. They should look into their party, khud ka ghar toh toot gya hai (Their own house is broken now),” he said.
He further added “With our government now made up of three parties, the strength of our MLAs is more than 200. No leader is unhappy and all have faith in us. Our government is only getting stronger. We have the support of PM Modi and Amit Shah,” the Maharashtra CM said.
Earlier on Sunday, Ajit Pawar divided the NCP when he joined the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra with 8 senior MLAs and took his fifth oath as the state’s deputy chief minister.