Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar meet CM Eknath Shinde at Varsha

Amid the fierce power tussle in the NCP, between rival factions led by Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar, the former, along with fellow deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis reached Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's official residence, 'Varsha', in Mumbai for a meeting with him on Monday night.

Earlier, on Monday, Union Minister of State for Social Justice, Ramdas Athawale met state minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who was the dissident Nationalist Congress Party leaders to have joined the Eknath Shinde-led government along with Ajit Pawar in the wake of a split down the middle in the party.

On Thursday, Athawale met Ajit Pawar at the latter's residence in Mumbai.

After the meeting, Athawale, who heads the Republican Party of India, reacted to merging of the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the NCP with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance, saying that the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA will weaken further in light of this development.

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