Outside support among options if he isn't CM, Shinde tells Amit Shah

WHEN caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Thursday, he gave him three tough options on government formation in Maharashtra.

- SUDHIR SURYAWANSHI

One, Shinde himself leading the government; two, his Shiv Sena getting plum portfolios in a BJP-led government; and three, offering outside support both in Maharashtra and at the Centre.

All three options are loaded with trouble despite Shinde's public posturing that he will not be an obstacle in government formation in the state. Shah advised the Mahayuti leaders to thrash out an acceptable power-sharing formula in Mumbai on Friday, but Shinde played mind games by coolly leaving for his native village Dare in Satara district instead of getting into a huddle in the Maximum City with BJP's Devendra Fadnavis and NCP's Ajit Pawar.