All of a sudden, last week, the regional media in Maharashtra, especially the news television channels, started flashing videos one after the other of some leaders of the Shiv Sena in which they were seen doing controversial things, to say the least. The leaders were targeted even by the national news media, which questioned how these leaders, belonging to the ruling coalition, could be allowed to do such blatant things as were seen in the videos. To add to this, some Shiv Sena leaders also received notices from agencies of the central government over disproportionate income or growth in assets in the same time frame. All this has given rise to speculation in Maharashtra's political sphere about whether Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena has now only limited utility in the BJP's view and whether the BJP thinks that Shinde is slowly becoming a burden for them in the Mahayuti alliance.

There has been some talk among the observers in Maharashtra about how the dynamics are shaping between various partners in the ruling Mahayuti alliance. It is obvious that the BJP has now accepted Ajit Pawar's existence in the government as a valuable alliance partner because he could win 41 seats in the last assembly polls and proved that his group is far superior compared to his uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar's group, which could get only 10 seats in the assembly polls.........

© Free Press Journal