After months of friction and wrangling, the Eknath Shinde-led government on Wednesday finally appointed Guardian Ministers to 11 districts, with Deputy Chief Minister and rebel Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar snaring the coveted guardianship of Pune district.
The final list of 12 Ministers again underscores the increasing weight of the Mr. Pawar’s faction within the tripartite ruling alliance of Mr. Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the NCP.
The appointments come a day after Mr. Shinde and his other Deputy, Devendra Fadnavis, made a sudden visit to Delhi on Tuesday evening to meet BJP national president J.P. Nadda and Union Home Amit Shah, following speculation that Mr. Pawar was reportedly unhappy with his allies, the Shinde-led Sena and the BJP.