Amit Shah’s late-night meeting with Ajit Pawar sparks rift speculation in Mahayuti alliance
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Mumbai: A discreet late-night meeting between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at the Sahyadri Guest House in Mumbai has intensified speculation of a brewing rift within the ruling Mahayuti alliance.
The meeting, held at the tail end of Shah's Maharashtra tour, lasted roughly 20 minutes and took place away from public view. Though no official comments were issued by either the BJP or Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction, the secrecy surrounding the encounter has fueled political chatter across the state.
This development comes amid rising tension in the coalition, following reports that Shah and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis pushed for the cabinet induction of Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal without consulting Ajit Pawar. In a recent interview, Bhujbal himself acknowledged the support of Shah and Fadnavis but pointedly omitted any mention of Pawar, further raising eyebrows.
Bhujbal had earlier accused Pawar of resisting his inclusion during the December 2024 cabinet expansion. The situation was further complicated by the removal of former minister Dhananjay Munde from the cabinet, whose portfolio was subsequently handed to Bhujbal. Munde is reportedly disgruntled over the reshuffle.
Sources suggest that Shah’s meeting with Pawar also included discussions on strategy for the upcoming local body elections, adding another layer of urgency and political significance to the conversation.
Earlier in the day, Shah participated in the inaugural Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj State Inspiration Song Award – 2025 ceremony. The event, hosted at the Chief Minister’s official residence “Varsha,” celebrated a patriotic song authored by freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and Cultural Affairs Minister Ashish Shelar were also present at the event.
Shah and Fadnavis jointly presented a ₹2 lakh cheque to representatives of the Swatantryaveer Savarkar Foundation to aid the upkeep of Savarkar’s national memorial. Shah departed for Delhi following the award ceremony, but his brief and private exchange with Ajit Pawar continues to reverberate across Maharashtra’s political corridors.
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MP cruise boat tragedy: Search ops expanded to trace four missing passengers
Jabalpur (PTI): Army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday expanded their search at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh to locate a man and three children still missing after the cruise boat tragedy that claimed nine lives two days ago, officials said.
With 28 of the 41 identified passengers onboard the ill-fated cruise boat rescued safely, police are preparing to register an FIR in connection with the accident that occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur district on Thursday evening, they said.
The search radius has been expanded to 5 km in the backwaters of the Bargi Dam, located downstream of the Narmada River, area sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.
Nine people drowned in the incident, while 28 were rescued, and efforts are ongoing to trace the missing persons, he said.
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According to the police, more than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, began the search operation at 5 am on Saturday to trace Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, his son Tamil (5), Vijay Soni (6) and Mayuram (5).
Mishra said that an inquest case has been registered and the post-mortem of nine deceased persons has been completed.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will soon register an FIR," he said.
Investigators have said that CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the ill-fated boat, and the names of 41 persons, who boarded the vessel, have been ascertained so far.
Collector Raghvendra Singh confirmed that a search is underway for four missing persons.
The rescue operation, being carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local divers, was briefly affected around 9 am due to strong winds.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members after survivors alleged negligence and safety lapses, including failure to provide life jackets.
The government also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, sank during a sudden storm around 6 pm on Thursday, and the wreckage was retrieved from the dam water on Friday, after the rescuers confirmed that there were no more bodies inside.
Eyewitnesses have said that strong winds made the water choppy, prompting passengers to raise an alarm and ask the crew to steer the vessel towards the riverbank.
A survivor alleged negligence by the crew and described a last-minute scramble for life jackets.
