On July 11, 2025, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut accused Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde of desperation to reclaim the Chief Minister’s post, alleging he offered to merge his Shiv Sena faction with the BJP during a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi. Raut claimed Shinde complained that current CM Devendra Fadnavis was obstructing his work and initiating probes against Shiv Sena MLAs. He further alleged Shinde told Shah that Marathi unity efforts, highlighted by a joint rally with Uddhav and Raj Thackeray over withdrawn language policy GRs, would harm his party unless he became CM to stabilize Maharashtra politics.

Shiv Sena spokesperson Sheetal Mhatre dismissed Raut’s claims, stating his remarks lack credibility even within his own party. Raut’s history of bold assertions includes a January claim of a rift between Shinde and Minister Uday Samant, and an outlandish tale of buffalo horns buried at the CM’s residence to secure the post. Despite Raut’s 2022 prediction that Shinde’s government would collapse, the Mahayuti alliance, comprising Shinde’s Shiv Sena, BJP, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, won a landslide in the 2024 assembly polls, securing 230 of 288 seats.

Shinde’s faction, recognized as the “real Shiv Sena” by the Election Commission in 2023, has solidified its position, winning 7 of 15 Lok Sabha seats in 2024, outperforming allies. While Shinde accepted the Deputy CM role in December 2024 under Fadnavis, Raut’s latest allegations highlight ongoing tensions within the Mahayuti coalition, with Shinde’s ambition and Marathi pride at the center of Maharashtra’s political drama.

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