THE COLD WAR IN THE MAHAYUTI

As Fadnavis cuts a seething Shinde down to size, the Mahayuti’s cold war comes to boiling point

- By Dhaval S. Kulkarni

IT'S STILL SHORT OF OPEN WARFARE, but the trenches around those Deccan forts are all lit up by stray cannonballs-some even hint it's friendly fire. The ruling Mahayuti hadn't ever been a happy ménage a trois that went waltzing into a honeymoon after its historic mandate in the 2024 assembly polls. But the tacit animus, especially centred around a sulking Eknath Shinde, is now getting explicit.

One signal came via an absence, a pointedly conspicuous one. In midAugust, the deputy CM and party colleague Bharatseth Gogawale sat out a state cabinet meeting. As the month wound down, the air thickened again, this time with a presence: that of Manoj Jarange-Patil at Mumbai's Azad Maidan.

The Maratha activist's now-on, now-off agitations had appeared mysteriously at critical moments. His siege ended on September 2, but only with a qualified victory. However, the state government's acceptance of Jarange-Patil's demand of Kunbi status for Marathas of Marathwada has miffed NCP cabinet minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal, who boycotted a cabinet meeting on September 3 as OBC protests erupted across the state.