Maharashtra state chief Eknath Shinde and deputy state chief Devendra Fadnavis held a meeting late Thursday night to discuss a Cabinet expansion of the government and power-sharing.
The meeting came days after Ajit Pawar’s breakaway Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction joined Maharashtra's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde's faction)-led coalition government.
Media reports, citing sources, said the meeting lasted until 2 a.m. (IST). However, the outcome could not be learned immediately.
Hours before the meeting between Fadnavis and Shinde, the Shinde group dismissed reports claiming that some members of their group were not happy with the inclusion of the new entrant -- Pawar and his colleagues -- into the ruling coalition.
Shinde group politician Uday Samant on Thursday stated that state chief Eknath Shinde had no plans to step down, and that reports of some party members being discontent was an attempt by the opposition to malign his image.
Shinde also denied claims of differences within his group, as he said that “with our government now made up of three parties, the strength of our lawmakers is more than 200”.
“Our government is only getting stronger. We have the support of Prime Minister Narendra PM Modi and Federal Home Minister Amit Shah”, he added.