Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Saturday evening. The two leaders had earlier met President Ram Nath Kovind and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Shinde and Fadnavis, who assumed office on June 30, a day after the then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray quit in the face of a massive rebellion, had a lengthy deliberations at the residence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday night. They are expected to have discussed the power-sharing arrangement in Maharashtra between the BJP and the Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena.
The visit of Shinde and Fadnavis to the national capital comes ahead of a crucial hearing in the Supreme Court on July 11 on a petition filed by the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, seeking the disqualification of Shinde and 15 MLAs of his faction from the Assembly.
Talking to reporters, Shinde lavished praise on his new-found ally on Saturday for giving the top post in the state to a "small worker" like him.
"The BJP has 115 MLAs and people had expected a BJP chief minister in Maharashtra. People used to say that the BJP breaks other parties to come to power. I have 50 MLAs. Can people now say the same thing about the BJP? They cannot. A small worker like me has got a chance to be the chief minister," he said.
The Shiv Sena had 55 MLAs before the split triggered by Shinde's revolt. Nearly 40 Shiv Sena MLAs had backed Shinde, who also enjoys the support of Independent legislators and MLAs from smaller outfits.
With PTI inputs