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The Maharashtra government has ordered that all files will now go through Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde before being presented to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for approval. State Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik issued an order to this effect on March 18. The moves sought to revive an arrangement that existed in 2023 of files being vetted by the then two deputy CMs –Ajit Pawar and Fadnavis — before being forwarded to then CM Shinde.
"Since July 26, 2023, files were moved from Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the finance department, to (then) Deputy CM Fadnavis, who held the home, law and judiciary departments before being sent to (then) CM Shinde for approval," as per the order. This arrangement was made after Pawar, who was then leader of opposition in the state assembly, joined the Shinde-led government along with several NCP MLAs on July 2, 2023. Now, with Fadnavis taking charge as chief minister, following the victory of the Mahayuti (comprising BJP, Shinde's Shiv Sena and Pawar-led NCP) in the state polls in 2024, the arrangement has been changed.
All files will be routed from Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who continues to hold the finance department, to Eknath Shinde, who is also the deputy CM and holds housing and urban development portfolios. The files will be sent to Fadnavis after Shinde's approval, as per the latest order. The Mahayuti regime registered a landslide victory in the November 2024 elections to the 288-member state assembly and formed the government again in December 2024.
Fadnavis became the CM after the BJP bagged 132 seats, followed by Shiv Sena-57 and NCP-41. Since the Mahayuti 2.0 took over, there has been speculation of a "cold war" between Shinde and Fadnavis.
Both the leaders have strongly denied the speculation. There have been disagreements over the guardian minister posts for some districts. Fadnavis had to revoke his decision on the appointment of guardian ministers of Nashik and Raigad districts after objections from Shinde.
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