Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde was allotted three ministries but not the key home department he had bargained hard for, as the Maharashtra portfolios were announced late on Saturday night, more than two weeks after the new Mahayuti government was sworn in.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis kept the home portfolio along with energy and law while allotting urban development, housing and public works department to one of his two deputy chief ministers, Eknath Shinde. The other deputy chief minister, NCP chief Ajit Pawar, retained the key finance and planning portfolios.

The BJP endorsed its dominance in the alliance by not buckling before the hard bargaining by Shinde but the conflict in the coalition has been revealed with the time taken in finalising the portfolios. They have come almost a month after the results of the elections were announced on November 23. Fadnavis and his two deputies were sworn in on December 5 and the cabinet expansion had been undertaken on December 15.

The Mahayuti had returned to power with a landslide victory, winning 235 of the 288 seats in the state. The BJP’s performance was exceptional as the party bagged 132 seats, its best ever in the state. The Shinde Shiv Sena bagged 57 and the NCP 41.

The big victory appeared to have created big problems and sources in the BJP said that in days to come the strains in the alliance could spill out in the open. The BJP, despite dominating the alliance, had to struggle hard to keep the two allies happy. The saffron party’s top leadership had to make several phone calls and hold many rounds of meetings before things could be put in place.

BJP insiders said that given the hard bargain put up by Shinde, the party needs to watch his moves carefully, particularly with the key elections to the Mumbai metropolitan corporation and other urban body polls due in the next one to two years.