India, Feb. 16 -- After his staffer was caught red handed accepting a bribe, Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) minister Narhari Zirwal has found himself in trouble. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is expected to investigate the role of a few officers from his office and Zirwal could be in a tough spot if his close aides are found to be involved. The opposition is already gunning for his head. Will he be the third NCP minister to resign? Within a few months of the Mahayuti coming to power, Dhananjay Munde had to resign after his close aide Walmik Karad was arrested in connection with the murder of a sarpanch in Beed. In December, Manikrao Kokate had to go after he was convicted in a case related to obtaining a house from the chief minister's discretionary quota. Now, the Opposition is gunning for Zirwal's ouster. Deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar has called a meeting on Monday to decide his future. For her, it is a tricky situation - Zirwal is a senior legislator, elected to the assembly five times and is also a prominent tribal leader from north Maharashtra. She will have to take a call--whether to take a stern stand on corruption in her minister's office but it could also mean a senior leader going against her in case he has to step down. This is going to be the first test of Sunetra Pawar's leadership after taking over as deputy chief minister. Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde is not happy with the performance of his party especially in the second and third phase of elections for major cities and 12 district councils respectively. The Shiv Sena maintained its second position after the BJP in terms of seats won but could win power only in a few municipal corporations - mostly in MMR. In the district councils too, the party did better than NCP or opposition parties but not so well in comparison with the BJP. Party insiders say Shinde has now decided to make some major changes in the party organisation and importantly, drop a couple of ministers for poor performance in their districts. This has led to tension among some Sena ministers. Incidentally, when the government was formed in 2024, Shinde had told Sena legislators that he was considering a two-and-a-half year tenure for most ministers so that more legislators could get opportunities to work as ministers. After a short break, the war of words has resumed between BJP leader and state forest minister Ganesh Naik and Shiv Sena leaders. Naik who has been training guns on deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, surprised everyone last week with his remarks that he was ashamed of being in a cabinet where the urban development department (UDD) took decisions that would go in favour of builders. In a meeting, he said the Navi Mumbai civic body wanted plots for hospitals, schools and other amenities but the concerned bodies (such as CIDCO and MIDC) did not agree. The builders managed to grab them, he alleged. The war between Naik and Shinde that began a year ago has resumed after the civic polls. Government officials dealing with Navi Mumbai say the two members of the cabinet had a fallout over the issue of redevelopment of CIDCO buildings in the satellite city. Those buildings in CIDCO colonies are 30-40 years old and are being redeveloped. With real estate prices in Navi Mumbai skyrocketing following the opening of the international airport, the redevelopment of CIDCO colonies is in great demand. Buoyed by the thumping victory of the BJP in Navi Mumbai civic polls, the Naik camp now wants total control over issues related to the city. Various decisions related to development in the satellite city are taken by Shinde led UDD and bodies like CIDCO that come under the department which is the root cause of the trouble. It looks like chief minister Devendra Fadnavis will have to intervene. Following CM Fadnavis' order saying no tenders for purchases are to be issued after February 15, the past two weeks saw a scramble in various departments to float tenders. After he took over the finance department following Ajit Pawar's death, Fadnavis directed the department to issue an order asking all government departments not to float any tenders for purchases except important ones such as medicines for hospitals. The motive was to prevent unnecessary expenditure as departments try to spend the entire funds allocated to them before the end of the financial year as the government's finances are anyway under strain due to spending on schemes like the Ladki Bahin Yojna. The urgency to float tenders in the last two weeks made many in Mantralaya wonder why such efficiency is not shown generally....