State scan: White-knuckle runoff set to go down to the wire in Maharashtra

As 2024 elections draw closer, parties in the state are reviewing their options

“It is a ploy to break the Maha Vikas Aghadi,” said a former chief minister (CM) of Maharashtra from the Congress, baldly after a two-hour meeting between Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar and head of Adani Group, Gautam Adani, in Mumbai earlier this month.

While no one except those present knows exactly what transpired at the meeting, it gave rise to speculation, especially as it took place after Sharad Pawar had asserted in an interview that Adani Group had been singled out for attack, in the process, distancing himself from the rest of the Opposition.

The Congress and