Maharashtra Forest Minister Ganesh Naik of the BJP held a public hearing (“janata darbar”) in Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s bastion of Thane on Monday, bringing the ongoing cold war in the ruling Mahayuti alliance out in the open.

Shinde happens to be the guardian minister of Mumbai city and Thane in addition to running three other ministries while BJP’s Ganesh Naik is the guardian minister of the neighbouring Palghar district. Usually, public hearings to solve people’s problems are held in party offices or ministerial bungalows or home districts of ministers. But Ganesh Naik surprised everybody by holding his public hearing right in Shinde’s bastion of Thane.

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According to sources, before the public hearing, Naik’s son and former MP Sanjeev Naik held several meetings with Thane BJP leaders to prepare for the event.

When asked about the event, Naik denied that there was any cold war in the Mahayuti camp. “The public hearing was held only to resolve people’s issues. The next such meeting will be held in Thane in March,” Naik said.

However, Shinde-led Sena’s Thane city chief Hemant Pawar criticised Ganesh Naik’s move. “Ganesh Naik must go to Gadchiroli and do his public event there. The people there have problems. That area has been affected by Naxalism for many years. If he goes to Gadchiroli and holds a court, it will help him solve the problems of the people there and his work will also be appreciated,” Shinde-led Sena’s Thane city chief Hemant Pawar said harshly.

Meanwhile, speculation has been rife since a long time that there is a cold war going on between Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the BJP besides talk that even the personal equation between Shinde and Maharashtra CM Fadnavis is poor.

Recently, Fadnavis took several decisions, including calling for an inquiry into a decision made during Eknath Shinde’s previous term as Maharashtra CM. On February 17, CM Fadnavis issued an order pointing out “irregularities” in the state’s Minimum Support Price (MSP) schemes for farmers and selection of nodal agencies for crop procurement. Fadnavis also formed a panel to study the matter in detail and suggest possible solutions. This decision was taken in response to alleged “irregularities” and “demand for money” by procurement agencies approved by the previous Eknath Shinde government under the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA) scheme.

Besides this decision by Fadnavis, there were also reports of Shinde skipping several key cabinet meetings and the CM also ordered removal of security cover for several Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena MLAs who were ministers earlier.

Also, the CM’s Office recently ordered a probe into a delayed housing project in Jalna worth Rs 900 crore, which was approved for revival when Shinde was CM in 2023. Fadnavis also cancelled a BMC contract worth Rs 1,400 crore for waste collection, slum cleaning and drainage and toilet maintenance, which was issued when Shinde was chief minister.

After all these decisions by Fadnavis, Deputy CM Shinde issued an indirect warning in Nagpur recently by publicly saying, “Do not take me lightly. I have already said this to those who took me lightly in the past. I am an ordinary party worker, but I am a worker of Balasaheb Thackeray and Anand Dighe. So, people should keep that in mind. Those who took me lightly saw that I changed the government in 2022 and brought a double engine government”.