Would that be a non sequitur, straying from the core issue, which is that not all is well in the city of Mumbai, where civic elections would soon be held?

Chief Minister Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde must pull up their socks. Media are making it sound like Shinde is a villain and Fadnavis a shining knight in armour. Shinde is being cornered to come up with corny statements like "we have a ‘thanda thanda, cool cool' relationship", as if it was a cola ad!

The fact is, Shinde’s denial of any rift flies against "rumours" that the Mahayuti is caught in the throes of internal strife and there’s a need for a power shift. And, as if to preempt comparison, Shinde noted that but for Uddhav Thackeray wanting to become Chief Minister, Shiv Sena would have been one single whole to this day. The nostalgia is killing the Deputy Chief Minister and the Chief Minister lacks the chutzpah to tell his deputy to back off, something he should have done at the time of the BJP victory in the assembly elections.

Who should be blamed for the current rift? The octopus with tentacles spread at the top of the BJP heap? The person who cannot be named or made the target of unfettered banter? The man who was slated to take credit for the BJP victory in the Delhi assembly elections as he had for the Maharashtra victory?

The BJP didn’t need the Shinde Sena to form a government in Maharashtra and there was no need for a Deputy Chief Minister in the first place, much less two! Everybody, including Chief Minister Fadnavis, knows who calls the shots, who is allowed to call the shots in the BJP.

Everybody also knows that the one-man BJP leadership has an authoritarian streak. All decisions taken are by consensus is the biggest lie uttered in modern-day contemporary politics. For example, the misleading statement that BJP legislators met and took the decision to name Rekha Gupta Delhi Chief Minister?

The one big decision that the Delhi Chief Minister should have taken on assuming office had already been usurped, i.e., the 'Clean up Yamuna' mission the Delhi Lt. Governor launched just ahead of the ‘Rekha Gupta’ launch — Chief Minister Gupta can now watch the foam fly!

The Yamuna river-bank development has the potential to set up the Yamuna to rival the Sabarmati river-bank, where Prime Minister Modi treated Chinese President Xi Jinping to a swing-ride, as Xi will well remember to this day.

This is not to divert from the rift between Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a non-event if Fadnavis hadn’t succumbed to high command pressure and in the euphoria of the moment agreed to share power with the Shinde Sena and the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party.

And Shinde is not behaving like a BJP lackey. The Deputy Chief Minister is busy plotting his own itinerary, meeting with Shinde Sena MPs, Shinde Sena legislators and Shinde Sena party office-bearers to plot Shinde Sena’s strategy.

Shinde has taken a leaf from the BJP leadership’s book and has set up a parallel system, as exemplified by a medical aid cell at the Mantralaya, a Shinde initiative "to help people" in general. Who will object to that?

"The Deputy Chief Minister's Medical Aid Cell was set up in the past too. It will coordinate with CM's Medical Relief Fund cell and help poor and needy patients. So there is no duplication of work. There is only one CM war-room. Even now key projects will be pushed from the war room."

Is that it, the so-called rift between Fadnavis and Shinde? There must be hidden elements. Maybe Shinde doesn't want his flock to migrate back to the Sena of Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray or it must have to do with the upcoming Mumbai municipal elections. It is not hidden that Shiv Sena (UBT) has an advantage over the Shinde Sena when it comes to the municipal elections in Mumbai, one which relies on the years upon years of Shiv Sena supremacy in the nation's financial capital.

Shinde spelled this out to his flock, asking them to prepare to deliver another defeat to the Sena-UBT, just as they had in the 2024 assembly elections. On Tuesday, Shinde asked party workers to prepare for the upcoming civic elections and defeat Shiv-Sena UBT, just as they had in the 2024 polls, which Shinde boasted had dealt a "body blow" to the Shiv Sena-UBT.

Shinde believes that defeating Uddhav Thackeray's Sena in the civic elections will further break-up the Balasaheb Thackeray-founded Sena and the Shinde Sena will expand. Shinde says his Shiv Sena "must expand" and that the civic polls will sound the death-knell of the Sena-UBT.

The long and short is, Deputy Chief Minister Shinde has big plans for his faction of the Shiv Sena and he is a "doer." Naturally, the BJP is wary of Eknath Shinde and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections are a test with both Shinde and Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray fighting for the spoils.

The odd man out is Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who was top of the world after the conclusion of the assembly elections when an all-out Hindutva-based strategy gave him a big majority. But with the one-man leadership back to "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas', 'Batenge toh katenge' is no longer in play. Chief Minister Fadnavis has lost some of his tough-guy sheen even as Shinde is positioning himself as a "replacement."

Shinde sought to draw a parallel with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying, "We are in a battle against those who oppose development", almost as if Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stood between Modi and Modi's marquee "Viksit Bharat." Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is losing the edge to Shinde who doesn't have to answer to a "Super Chief Minister." (IPA Service)