Eknath Shinde Goes to Delhi After Minister Gets Income Tax Notice and Son Faces Hotel Bid Probe

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde suddenly went to Delhi on Wednesday evening after cancelling all his scheduled meetings. This unexpected trip came after a series of problems faced by his close party members and family.

Also, a state minister from Shinde’s party received a notice from the Income Tax (I-T) department. This notice was about some mistakes found in his election documents from 2019 and 2024. The chief minister had also asked for an inquiry into the minister’s son, who had placed a bid to purchase the VITS Hotel in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

People in the party said that minister felt cornered and upset because of both the I-T notice and the probe. His son had also submitted the lowest bid in the hotel auction a month ago but many questions were raised about how the auction was handled.

According to sources it is said that Shinde reached Delhi late at night and met with a senior BJP leader. But there isn’t any official confirmation of this meeting, people close to Shinde said he was unhappy with the way things are going, mainly the notice to his minister and the investigation into the hotel matter.

The minister who got the notice said the Income Tax Department only just him regarding his past election papers. He was asked to appear on July 9 but has requested more time to respond. He also mentioned that Shinde’s son also received a similar notice but later took back that statement.

This issue of the hotel bid had already attracted lots of attention last month. Some opposition leaders had said that the auction was done on biasness towards minister’s son which helped him. The issue came up again in the state council this week, and the Chief Minister announced an inquiry.

Some leaders from other parties said there seems yo to be growing tension between Shinde and the Chief Minister. Shinde also wanted to talk to top BJP leaders about the possible impact of Raj and Uddhav Thackeray coming together again. Their reunion could help shiv sena get more votes in the upcoming elections. Shinde was likely trying to convince the BJP to bring Raj Thackeray’s party (MNS) into their alliance to strengthen their side.