Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his family are scheduled to meet PM Narendra Modi on Thursday, December 26, in what has been described as a “goodwill visit”. Shinde’s son and Kalyan Lok Sabha MP, Shrikant Eknath Shinde, confirmed the scheduled meeting with the PM on Wednesday.

The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Lok Sabha MP, Shrikant Eknath Shinde, happens to be a part of the Joint Parliamentary Committee tasked with studying the ‘One Nation One Election’ bill for simultaneous polls. The committee will be asked to submit its report during the budget session.

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It may be recalled that Eknath Shinde as well as his family first met Modi on July 22, 2024, making the scheduled visit on Thursday their second meeting with the PM.

Incidentally, Shinde was initially very reluctant to join the Fadnavis cabinet and had been sulking. He had told his supporters that he did not want to join the new council of ministers. However, he eventually agreed after a lot of persuasion by the MLAs of his party (Shiv Sena) and considerable wooing by BJP top brass, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Modi.

The BJP had repeatedly requested Shinde to join the cabinet and finally, on the day of the swearing-in, he agreed to take oath as Deputy CM. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena had demanded key ministries like the home department, but the BJP refused to concede to the party’s demands.

Even now, some Shinde-led Shiv Sena MLAs are unhappy about not being given ministerial berths in the Fadnavis cabinet. Though the fight for Maharashtra cabinet posts is over, the fight for the coveted guardian minister posts of districts continues within the BJP-dominated Mahayuti alliance.

Maharashtra is divided into 36 districts, each overseen by a guardian minister, typically from the same district. The guardian minister of Maharashtra is a cabinet-level official appointed by the state government to oversee and facilitate the development of a specific district.

Notably, Deputy CM Eknath Shinde wants to be the guardian minister of his home district, Thane, while Deputy CM Ajit Pawar wants to be the guardian minister of Pune. This is because the role of a guardian minister is crucial since it involves controlling the District Planning and Development Council (DPDC) funds, which are allocated for district-level development and beautification projects.

Significantly, Sanjay Raut, Rajya Sabha MP and spokesperson for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, who has always criticised Eknath Shinde, alleged, “Shinde may claim to be the main leader of Shiv Sena, but his handlers are in Delhi. As far as the Shinde-led Shiv Sena is concerned, the remote control is in Delhi. We do not need to go to Delhi to run our party.”