From disagreement over guardian minister's post to taking separate review meetings to separate medical cells and 'war rooms' for monitoring projects, the unease between Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his deputy Eknath Shinde seems to be growing.
Talks of rift have gripped the ruling Mahayuti just three months after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led three-party coalition swept the assembly polls, winning 230 of the 288 seats and virtually decimating the rivals, and no amount of clarification or assertion is helping in scotching the speculations.
Post-results last November, Shinde, who heads the Shiv Sena, had to content with the position of deputy chief minister after a lot of persuasion following the BJP's decision to install its leader Fadnavis as the CM.
Shinde's supporters feel it was because of his leadership, development and welfare decisions taken during the two-and-a-half years of his chief ministership (June 2022 to November 2024) that the ruling bloc, consisting of the BJP, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party, swept the assembly polls.
Shiv Sena leaders said Shinde was not willing to accept the deputy CM's post, but was convinced by his party colleagues and the BJP's top brass to be part of the government under Fadnavis.
It took almost a week for portfolio allocation after ministers were administered oath.
Although both Fadnavis and Shinde have denied any discord between them and tried to project a picture of unity with all is well message, several instances suggest otherwise.
The rift was seen widening with the decision on guardian ministers of Raigad and Nashik districts.
The Shiv Sena was upset over the appointment of NCP legislator Aditi Tatkare and BJP leader Girish Mahajan's appointment as guardian ministers of Raigad and Nashik, respectively. The issue remains unresolved though the twin appointments have been put on hold.
If this wasn't enough, in addition to the chief minister's "war room", both deputy CM -- Ajit Pawar and Shinde -- set up monitoring units to track projects that fall under the districts of which they are guardian ministers and departments handled by ministers of their respective parties.
In addition to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund, Shinde also set up a medical aid cell at the state secretariat.
Shinde has stayed away from several meetings convened by Fadnavis, including the Nashik Regional Development Authority (NRDA), to discuss the 2027 Kumbh Mela preparations in the north Maharashtra city.
After Fadnavis held a review meeting of the industries department, Shinde held another meeting recently. The industries department is held by Shiv Sena minister Uday Samant.
The rift is likely to further widen after the security of 20 Shiv Sena MLAs was reduced or removed following threat perception exercise undertaken by the state police. They were given 'Y' security cover following the June 2022 split in the party.
Senior journalist Prakash Akolkar told PTI that the 'cold war' between the two leaders (Fadnavis and Shinde) is expected to continue.
"Shinde is asking for his prize as he was expecting more after the assembly election results. But it could not happen because the BJP did very well. It is clear that both are against each other. Fadnavis' rivals in the state BJP are also backing Shinde. The central BJP leadership is also directly or indirectly supporting Shinde to cut Fadnavis to size," Akolkar claimed.
He said the BJP's central leadership also needs support of the seven MPs of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
"Being a coalition government, difference of opinion has to be there over distribution of spoils. They cannot speak openly on inner race for one-upmanship for reasons of political expediency. It will be quite natural for the BJP to ask for a major chunk as their numerical count has doubled since the last elections," Maharashtra Congress vice-president Ratnakar Mahajan said.
Both Shinde and Fadnavis have been at pains to deny rift between them.
Speaking at a party meeting on Tuesday, Shinde rejected speculations of a 'cold war' in the Mahayuti coalition and asserted 'everything is thanda thanda, cool cool'.
"We are at war with those who are anti-development," maintained the deputy CM.
Shinde emphasised that unlike the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Mahayuti's agenda is not to hanker for posts or share spoils of power, but to push for development of Maharashtra and bring positive change in people's lives.
Shinde said there was 'absolutely no cold war' with Chief Minister Fadnavis.
Responding to a query from reporters on establishing a media cell, Fadnavis said, "There is nothing wrong in the formation of such a cell as its aim is to help people. When I was the deputy chief minister, I had formed a similar cell."
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut has claimed a 'parallel government' is operating within the state administration.
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