Winter Session to see if friends-turned-foes in Maha remain

The winter session of Parliament beginning next week is expected to see whether the friends- turned-foes in Maharashtra would remain allies at the Centre.
Shiv Sena, which has been the oldest ideological ally of the BJP, is sitting in the Opposition benches in Maharashtra while its nominee is part of the Narendra Modi Cabinet in New Delhi.
Interestingly, ahead of the Parliament session, Sharad Pawar's NCP has become a strange bedfellow of BJP in Maharashtra while being the second largest constituent of Congress-led UPA in Delhi.
"We have not taken a decision about our future course of action. There have been some issues of discord. We have differences of opinion on some matters," Shiv Sena spokesman and leader of the party in Rajya Sabha Sanjay Raut told PTI.

A tussle appeared to be on in Shiv Sena on the course to be adopted with a section still seeking sharing of power with BJP while another wanting the party to play the role of the opposition.
This is in spite of the fact that the way the Devendra Fadnavis government secured trust vote in the Maharashtra Assembly has widened the gap between BJP and Shiv Sena.
A section in the BJP is also uncomfortable due to the support from NCP which the Prime Minister himself had dubbed during the Assembly election campaign as a "Naturally Corrupt Party". This section feels that the BJP will have to pay heavily if it takes support of NCP in Maharashtra.

On the other hand, Pawar while extending his support to BJP beyond Maharashtra Legislature took a broom in his hands two days back in a gesture signaling a new found bonhomie between the two parties.