Eknath Shinde dismisses buzz of rift in Mahayuti
Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has dismissed the speculation of a rift within the Mahayuti and said everything is hunky-dory in the ruling alliance.
The issues, if any, will be sorted out through discussions, Shinde told reporters on Sunday.
"There is no bickering within the Mahayuti. Everything is hunky-dory. We work and don't complain. We are the ones who fight," he said.
The Shiv Sena leader was reacting to reports that he has complained to Union Home Minister Amit Shah about Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
"If Eknath Shinde has to say something, he will directly talk to me or the chief minister (Devendra Fadnavis). We share good relations," Pawar told reporters.
Amid talk of Shinde raising contentious issues concerning the state's ruling alliance with Shah, BJP 's Sudhir Mungantiwar on Sunday also defended the Shiv Sena leader.
"Eknath Shinde is a good leader. He would not use such ways to raise complaints before Shah. Shinde is such a leader who will not wait and raise it with Amit Shah. He would directly speak with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar," Mungantiwar told reporters.
The ruling alliance comprises the BJP, Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP. It retained power after a landslide victory in the state assembly polls held in November last year.
Shinde, who was chief minister from June 2022, however, had to be content with the deputy CM's post in the Devendra Fadnavis-led government formed after the polls.
During his visit to Maharashtra on Saturday, Shah attended an event at Raigad Fort to mark the 345th death anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
NCP MP Sunil Tatkare on Saturday also hosted lunch for Shah at his house in Raigad, and described it as a "non-political" interaction with the issue of guardian ministers not on its agenda.
Local Shiv Sena leaders didn't attend the lunch, further fuelling speculation that all was not well in the BJP-led Mahayuti over the allotment of posts of guardian ministers in Raigad and Nashik.
Notably, Sunil Tatkare's daughter and NCP MLA Aditi Tatkare is one of the contenders for the post of the Raigad district guardian minister, but is facing opposition from Shiv Sena MLA Bharat Gogawale.
The Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government had to stay the appointment of Aditi Tatkare and BJP leader Girish Mahajan as guardian ministers of Raigad and Nashik and districts, respectively, in January this year due to opposition from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
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Rupee strengthens past 90/USD level in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee appreciated 24 paise to 89.96 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, supported by corporate dollar inflows and easing crude oil prices.
Forex traders said the gain in the USD/INR pair follows the rupee’s string of record lows in recent weeks on likely intervention from the Reserve Bank of India.
Moreover, crude oil prices hovering around USD 59 per barrel level supported market sentiment.
ALSO READ:Rupee trades in narrow range against US dollar in early trade
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.19 against the US dollar, then gained some ground and touched 89.96 against the US dollar, registering a gain of 24 paise over its previous close.
In initial trade it also touched 90.22 against the American currency. On Thursday, the rupee appreciated 18 paise against the US dollar to close at 90.20 against the greenback.
The rupee sank to a fresh record low, breaching the 91-a-dollar mark for the first time on Tuesday.
"Since the speculators are out of the market the buying of US dollar syndrome has come down a bit though intra-day we could see spikes," said Anil Kumar Bhansali Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
The US CPI came lower than expected but was also due to non-collection of sufficient data and therefore, the next month’s CPI becomes more important, Bhansali said, adding that "Rupee remains in a range of 90-90.50".
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 98.46.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.27 per cent at USD 59.66 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex climbed 375.98 points to 84,857.79, while the Nifty was up 110.60 points to 25,934.15.
Foreign Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 595.78 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal on Thursday said he is not concerned about the rupee at all, arguing that even China and Japan witnessed exchange rate weaknesses during their high growth phases.
Speaking at 'Times Network's India Economic Conclave 2025', Sanyal said since the 90s, the rupee has mostly been allowed to find its own level, but the RBI uses its reserves to intervene in either direction to stop excessive volatility.
"I am not concerned about the rupee at all... Let me say that the rupee and its current weakness should not be necessarily conflated with some economic worry, because historically, if you go over time, you will see that economies that are in their high growth phase very often go through a phase of exchange rate weakness," he said.
