Union Minister Ramdas Athawale meets Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 8 : Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale on Saturday met Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal who recently joined the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government after the vertical split in the Nationalist Congress Party led by Ajit Pawar.

On Thursday, Athawale had met Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at the latter's residence in Mumbai.

After the meeting, Athawale, who heads the Republican Party of India, reacted that after the merging of Ajit Pawar faction of NCP into the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA will weaken further.

Maharashtra has been witnessing hectic political development ever since the split in the NCP.

Earlier, on Friday, in yet another setback to the Shiv Sena (UBT), party leader and the deputy chairperson of Maharashtra Legislative Council, Neelam Gorhe, joined the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC member joined the rival faction in the presence of Chief Minister Shinde and his deputy Fadnavis.

In Maharashtra Legislative Council's Business Advisory Committee, BJP MLC Pravin Darekar proposed to take back the no-confidence motion against Gorhe, brought during the previous session of the Council, for the post of deputy chairperson of the Legislative Council.

Speaking at the official meeting here, Gorhe said, "Shiv Sena is heading in the right direction under the able leadership of Eknath Shinde."

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray on Friday said there might be some change in the state government as he had heard that Eknath Shinde will be asked to resign.

Amid the ongoing political crisis in Maharashtra, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale on Monday said that a similar situation can also arise in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, adding that some MLAs of Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party are upset with their respective party leaders.

"In Uttar Pradesh, Jayant Chaudhary can join with NDA as he is currently upset with Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav. There is a possibility that differences arise between MLAs of SP," Athawale had said.

The move by Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar, which also saw eight other NCP MLAs joining the Shinde-Fadnavis government, came amid efforts by opposition parties to forge unity to take on the BJP in the next year's Lok Sabha polls. Sharad Pawar, a former Maharashtra Chief Minister, has been a key leader in opposition unity efforts.

State Governor Ramesh Bais administered the oath to Ajit Pawar and other ministers - Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse-Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Dharmarao Baba Atram, Aditi Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode and Anil Patil.