Truce between Fadnavis, Shinde? | Mumbai news
MUMBAI: After a turbulent period marked by a power struggle between Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the BJP leadership appears to have brokered a truce. A sign of this thaw is an order issued by the state government, directing all its administrative departments to route their files through both the deputy chief ministers – Ajit Pawar as well as Shinde – before they reach Fadnavis.
Two weeks ago, chief secretary Sujata Saunik issued an order revising a July 2023 directive issued under the previous Mahayuti alliance government headed by Shinde. The original order mandated that files relating to subjects listed in the second schedule be routed through deputy chief minister and finance minister (Ajit Pawar) and deputy chief minister and home minister (Devendra Fadnavis) before presenting them before chief minister (Eknath Shinde).
However, when the new Mahayuti alliance government took power in December 2024, with Shinde and Fadnavis swapping roles, the process was altered. In the absence of a fresh order, or clarity, many of the files were routed solely through Pawar before they were presented to Fadnavis.
Saunik’s March 18, 2025, order, which has merely tweaked the July 2023 directive, has reintroduced Shinde into this critical administrative process – it also signalled a possible truce. The order requires all files to be routed through deputy chief minister (finance minister, Pawar) and deputy chief minister (urban development, Shinde) before they arrive on the desk of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Much has shifted since the two orders were issued, especially the power dynamics between Fadnavis and Shinde. After losing a bitter power struggle to Fadnavis when the new Mahayuti government took control in December, Shinde has found himself increasingly sidelined. Fadnavis has made a series of moves that have embarrassed Shinde, from halting several projects and schemes approved during Shinde’s tenure as chief minister in the previous Mahayuti government, to ordering investigations into decisions made by Shinde’s administration.
After being repeatedly undermined, a sulking Shinde retreated to his hometown in Satara and skipped key meetings he should have attended. The tension between the two senior politicians grew so palpable that they both felt compelled to publicly allay fears of a growing rift.
The apparent truce has come after the intervention of the BJP’s top leadership. According to a senior BJP minister, a frustrated Shinde had a closed-door meeting with Union minister Amit Shah during the latter’s visit to Pune in February. Shinde is said to have complained about attempts to belittle him and the Shiv Sena, the party he leads. Shah appears to have decided that it was time the two leaders buried the hatchet, insiders from both parties revealed.
“After the meeting between Shah and Shinde, Fadnavis has not stayed a single decision taken by Shinde under the earlier regime, neither has he taken decisions against the Sena or departments headed by Sena ministers,” a Sena leader pointed out.
The leader said that Fadnavis had, in fact, revoked an order he himself had issued by appointing Sena leader and transport minister Pratap Sarnaik as chairperson of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC). Fadnavis had ignored the convention of installing a political appointee in this post, when appointing a bureaucrat to head the MSRTC. Insiders said the reversal of this decision is believed to have been the beginning of the truce between the two top leaders.
Following Shah’s intervention, Fadnavis and Shinde addressed the media together on the eve of the budget session, dismissing reports of any tension between them as completely baseless. It appears the media was at fault for creating a false narrative, or so the two leaders would have the people believe.
