Amid a tussle over the distribution of portfolios to the most recent addition to the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition government in Maharashtra led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders late on Wednesday night.
The stand-off over portfolios has persisted since the surprise swearing-in of Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP legislators as ministers in the Maharashtra government on July 2 after a split in the Sharad Pawar-led outfit. Pawar's nephew Ajit and senior leaders Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, and Sunil Tatkare walked out with a major chunk of MLAs and MLCs of the NCP, staking claim to the name and election symbol of the party.
Patel insisted that the meeting with Shah and other BJP leaders was a courtesy call as he and Ajit Pawar had not met them formally since joining the ruling alliance in Maharashtra. NCP has been insisting on the crucial finance and water resources portfolios, which the Shiv Sena is learnt to have opposed strongly.