Evening Pulse: Shinde's Sena tilts to Sanap in Pune as Fadnavis promises ₹5,000 drought advance

Maharashtra's ruling partners spent Wednesday side by side at the cabinet table and, by most accounts, on opposite sides of a ballot in Pune. After the cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced drought relief with Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar beside him. By afternoon, several Marathi outlets were reporting that Shinde's Shiv Sena had settled on backing an independent against the BJP's candidate in the Pune teachers' Council seat. The drought that ties the day together also reaches city taps this week.

Since this morning, the Pune story has firmed up, but it is still not on the record. TV9 Marathi, citing sources from a meeting of senior Mahayuti leaders, reported that the BJP and the Shinde Sena will have a "friendly contest": the Sena will back independent Sachin Sanap, and the BJP and other allies will back Kaustubh Gawde. ETV Bharat Marathi reported the same backing but in hedged terms. No Sena leader has announced it publicly, and we found no BJP statement on the reported decision. Sanap himself told reporters he knew nothing about the meeting, ETV Bharat said. He added that he would welcome support from Shinde and the Sena if it had been given. Polling is on 23 October.

Both outlets describe Sanap as close to minister Uday Samant. TV9 Marathi also reported that Shinde had been upset over the seat and skipped a meeting with the Chief Minister, though no leader confirmed that on record. ETV Bharat noted that the opposition has its own cracks: Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded three official candidates in the Council polls, which it read as discord within the Maha Vikas Aghadi.

The day's biggest government decision came from the cabinet. Fadnavis said every drought-affected farmer will get ₹5,000 in their bank account before Diwali as an advance on full drought aid, Mumbai Tak and Saam TV reported. Forty more talukas have been added to the drought list, taking the total to 305, and the 12 standard drought concessions will apply there. Mumbai Tak said the full aid cannot be paid before Diwali because of central procedures, which is why the state is sending an advance. Neither report gave a total cost or the number of farmers covered.

The cabinet also told banks not to press drought-hit farmers hard on loan recovery, and told power officials not to pressure them over electricity bills, Saam TV reported. Tankers in Marathwada will be tracked by GPS, about 16,000 illegal water connections have been cut, and the state will buy fodder that farmers grow. Conditions on the exam-fee waiver were dropped. The cabinet also passed a resolution congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 years in public office. We found no opposition reaction to the relief package by this evening.

On the Karnataka border, the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana's blockade at the Kognoli toll plaza on NH-48 held through its second day. Raju Shetti and other protesters spent the night on the road, ETV Bharat Marathi reported. Shetti warned that sugar leaving factories would be stopped next and urged farmers not to send cane to mills. ETV Bharat said the Centre had held no further talks with the unions. The South First reported that the Centre has said a high-level joint committee on cane recovery rates will be formed within a week, and that Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has urged farmers to stop blocking roads. Police have diverted traffic via Satara, Miraj and Gokak.

The 10% water cut ordered by the state starts on Friday, and Thane shows how it will feel. Supply from MIDC's Jambhul plant will be shut for 24 hours from midnight on Thursday, hitting Diva, Kalwa, most of Mumbra and parts of Wagle and Manpada, Saam TV reported. Pressure will stay low for a day or two after. Sakal reported that Thane already gets less water than it needs and that the cut could widen the gap.

In Sangli, NCP legislator Idris Nayakwadi has received an anonymous letter threatening to kill him if he opposes a Uniform Civil Code, Sarkarnama and Saam TV reported. Police at Miraj City have registered a non-cognisable offence against an unknown person and are trying to trace the sender. Nayakwadi had asked his party's state president, Sunil Tatkare, to spell out the NCP's stand on the law.

Some of this morning's threads did not move. We found no new Supreme Court date for the Shiv Sena name-and-symbol case, and no fresh report on how the flat-registration curb will treat buildings already occupied.