Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Thursday for an hour, sources said.

Shinde met Union Minister JP Nadda alongwith his son Shrikant Shinde who is the Sena’s Lok Sabha MP from the Kalyan constituency in Maharashtra and his daughter-in-law Vrushali Shinde. It is also learnt that Shinde’s family will proceed to Kashmir on a holiday soon.

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Incidentally, Deputy CM’s son happens to be a part of the Joint Parliamentary Committee to study the ‘One Nation One Election’ bill for simultaneous polls. The committee will be asked to submit its report during the Budget session.

After Eknath Shinde met PM Modi on Thursday, he told media persons that this was the first time he met the PM after the Maharashtra Cabinet was expanded.

“After the establishment of the cabinet, this is the first time I am in Delhi where I met Prime Minister Modi in person. I also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, JP Nadda and Kiran Rijiju. This meeting was not a political one. During the last two- and- a half years, we have shown how projects and welfare schemes can be implemented and the people have given us credit for that. I would also like to thank Prime Minister Modi for the time he spent in Maharashtra during the assembly election,” Shinde said about his meeting, which was previously described as a “goodwill visit”.

“Under the leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, we, as a team, will take the state forward. We will do what we have not been able to do in the last two- and -a half years. We will make a road map on how to make Maharashtra a fully developed, number one state. Our Prime Minister’s vision is to develop the country and achieve the goal of a 5-trillion dollar economy. Maharashtra will achieve more than a 1-trillion dollar economy,” Shinde said, after meeting the PM.

Speaking about the ‘One Nation One Election’ concept, he said that the Congress and opposition parties are against it. “If you look at the reality, a lot of public money is spent on elections. If we implement One Nation One Election, the progress of the country will improve. A lot of public money is spent by the government on elections and the other parties never say anything about it,” he said.

It may be recalled that Eknath Shinde had first met Modi on July 22, and hence Thursday’s meeting with the PM, is his second such visit.

Moreover, though the fight for Maharashtra Cabinet posts is over, the fight for the coveted guardian minister posts of districts is still on within the BJP-dominated Mahayuti parties. Maharashtra is divided into 36 districts, each overseen by a guardian minister, who typically hails from the same district. In Maharashtra, the guardian minister is a cabinet-level position to oversee and facilitate the development of a specific district.

Sources said that he wants to be the guardian minister of his resident Thane district, 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 development and beautification projects at the district level. Sources said that the matter has been discussed with Mr Shah.