The Shinde-Fadnavis personal rivalry continues to test the ruling alliance, even as their respective parties battle for control of the political turf in Maharashtra

AT ODDS: Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde with (left) deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis (Photo: Getty Images)

Strain is the def­ault setting when it comes to the alliance of convenience that the ruling coalition in Maharashtra is. If Eknath Shinde is at pains to constantly demonstrate that he is more than a puppet chief minister, the BJP loses no opportunity to remind him that he owes his position to them. And so the moves and countermoves play in a loop, the former’s petulant streaks of autonomy being met by his one-time patron with plenty of, well, patronising.