Eknath Shinde is waiting for the right opportunity to strike back
Mumbai: A month after being sworn-in as a Deputy Chief Minister, ruling Mahayuti ally Eknath Shinde seems to have emerged from his sullen mood and is seen all smiles, despite the perceived ‘demotion’ from the top post, where Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis extracted his sweet revenge.
As the Mahayuti settles down to govern for the next 59 months, the SS appears gung-ho, having bagged quite a few critical ministries.
Shinde, who had to compromise on the coveted Home Ministry, is apparently at home with a bouquet comprising Urban Development, Housing, Water, Public Health, School Education, Industry, plus other key departments for his party after tough bargaining with the Big Brother, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Party sources said that though he could not return as CM, he bounced back as the No. 2 in the Cabinet and is now going all-out to prove his utility – and probably trump the other ally, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)’s Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.
The first battle won, Shinde has trained guns on securing other influential positions at various levels – like state corporations, SEOs, and other posts – to keep his men in good stead in the coming years.
Not known to brag on his achievements, the SS chief and his team are quietly handling his portfolios which give them full control over the entire state’s urban set-up, housing sector, health, education, etc., which concern and are directly linked to the masses.
In turn, this is expected to reap rich dividends in the upcoming civic bodies elections where the Shinde-led party hopes to overtake or even edge out the Opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies, particularly the Shiv Sena (UBT) headed by ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray.
On the MVA soothsayers predicting that the BJP would deploy old tricks to undermine or decimate regional allies, SS leaders claim that on the contrary, the alliance with the BJP has proved to be mutually beneficial for the Mahayuti partners.
However, the rumour-mills got a boost with the ongoing overtures by the SS (UBT) vis-à-vis Fadnavis – first Thackeray dropping in to meet the CM in Nagpur, then a sobered Sanjay Raut penning a fawning edit, several leaders lavishing praises, that was not lost on the MVA.
Raising doubts in various quarters whether the SS (UBT) was being prepared as a potential Team B to help out in any eventuality at the Centre, in case of a mood-swing by the mercurial NDA ally, Janata Dal (U) President and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.
However, a reluctant Shiv Sena chief spokesperson Krishna Hegde dismissed all Opposition conjectures on his party, the Mahayuti and the JD(U), reiterating that all are firmly united behind the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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