. Sources close to the Maharashtra CMO highlight Shinde’s accomplishments, including developmental initiatives and the popular Ladki Bahin Yojana, aimed at bolstering re-election prospects.
The Shinde camp appeared to have sensed the signs of BJP’s resurgent ambition and was resentful of it. “Shinde ran a govt which delivered on development, helped MLAs improve their chances of re-election and launched the highly popular Ladki Bahin Yojana to shift the vibes,” a source close to the CMO in Mumbai said. He also brought up Shinde’s role in bringing down the MVA govt. “We were promised that there would be no change of leadership,” the source said.
However, the outgoing CM does not have too many options because of BJP huge numbers and the strong likeli- hood of Ajit Pawar teaming up with it on the leadership issue.
Also, the small flocks of Congress, NCP (SP) and Sena (UBT) are likely to be prone to splits.