If what happened on Wednesday is any indication, there are no signs of the two patching up soon. Fadnavis and Khadse were at the Sahyadri guest house. The occasion was the release of a short film on Swachh Bharat made by actor and Swachh Bharat ambassador Makrand Anaspure. Governor C Vidyasagar Rao was also present.
The Fadnavis government completes 100 days in power on Saturday, but all is not well within the ministry. There are strains not only in the relationship between the BJP and the Shiv Sena, but even the top two in the cabinet – chief minister Devendra Fadnavis himself and revenue minister Eknath Khadse – are not happy with each other.
If what happened on Wednesday is any indication, there are no signs of the two patching up soon. Fadnavis and Khadse were at the Sahyadri guest house. The occasion was the release of a short film on Swachh Bharat made by actor and Swachh Bharat ambassador Makrand Anaspure. Governor C Vidyasagar Rao was also present.
What happened at the guest house?
During the entire programme, neither Khadse nor Fadnavis looked at each other even once. For about 10 minutes, the two of them, along with other dignitaries, were at the steps of the guest house awaiting the arrival of the governor. Both stood there as total strangers and did not even smile at each other, forget greetings.
Brewing anger
October 31, 2014: Fadnavis, Khadse take oath
November 2, 2014: Khadse says a non-Brahmin should have been made CM
January 3, 2015: CM transfers 42 IAS officers
January 6, 2015: Khadse sends letter of protest
February 3, 2015: Khadse skips cabinet meeting
Did Khadse skip cabinet meet?
Yes, on Tuesday. Khadse's explanation was that he was not well. But insiders say the real reason was that he was upset with Fadnavis for not approving officers of his choice. The CM's office did not agree with Khadse's appointement of a personal secretary and assistant. Also, Khadse had openly opposed the recent transfer of 42 IAS officers.
What's Fadnavis saying?
He is neither commenting on Khadse's displeasure over the transfer of 42 IAS officers nor on Khadse's statement in Pandharpur that "a non-Brahmin should have been made the Chief Minister," soon after the appointment of Fadnavis as CM. Interestingly, on Thursday, BJP state unit president Raosaheb Danve tried to play the role of a trouble-shooter and said there were no differences between Fadnavis and Khadse.
Any other minister opposed to CM?
Minister for transport and Shiv Sena leader Diwakar Raote came down heavily on Fadnavis during the cabinet meeting on Tuesday over the issue of farmers' suicides. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray also had criticised the government over the same. Industries minister Subhash Desai was also not present at the cabinet meeting when Raote criticised the chief minister.
Why was Desai not present?
Desai told dna he skipped the cabinet meeting as he had to attend a function where Vice-President Hamid Ansari was the chief guest. Insiders, however, have a different story. According to sources, when the chief minister was giving a hang of what happened at the World Economic Forum summit, upon his return from Davos, Desai was sidelined. In fact, invited industries secretary Apurva Chandra for his press conference, and not Desai.
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