Devendra Fadnavis and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met late Friday night to talk about power sharing, days after Ajit Pawars split Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) group joined the Maharashtra coalition government.After the addition of a third ally, Ajit Pawar, who was sworn in as deputy chief minister on Sunday, Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis discussed a cabinet enlargement in the meeting that went till two in the morning, according to the reports.After the Shinde group denied rumours that its MLAs had expressed discomfort over Ajit Pawars joining the ruling coalition, the discussions took place a short while later. Eknath Shinde, according to the party, has no intention of resigning his position as chief minister.Shiv Sena leader Uday Samant in a statement said, “We are not resignation givers but takers. His leadership is to take everyone along and be patient. Yesterday, all the MLAs, MPs have reposed faith in Eknath Shinde… all this (reports of discontent) is being done to malign Eknath Shinde.”Shinde rubbishes resignation rumoursAs per sources, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis was seen leaving the CMs residence after the late-night meeting on Thursday.Mumbai: Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis leaves from CM residence after meeting CM Eknath Shinde#MaharashtraPolitics pic.twitter.com/TCPrTmsg5y— ANI (@ANI) July 6, 2023In response to recent reports that Shiv Sena MLAs were unhappy with NCP leader Ajit Pawar joining the Shinde-Fadnavis government, CM Shinde stated earlier in the day that his government had become stronger and that he had no plans to resign, calling all such reports rumours.“It is all rumours…,” CM Shinde told ANI.On the split in the NCP, Shinde said the party should introspect on everything that was happening within the rank and file.“They (NCP) should introspect on what is happening in their party. They should look into their party, khud ka ghar toh toot gya hai (Their own house is broken now),” he said.“Yesterday I also held a meeting with our MPs and MLAs and our government is getting stronger by the day,” the CM added.He said further, “With our government now made up of three parties, the strength of our MLAs is more than 200. No leader is unhappy and all have faith in us. Our government is only getting stronger. We have the support of PM Modi and Amit Shah,” the Maharashtra CM said.
