The Bharatiya Janata Party and Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena will have an officer on special duty in senior BJP leader Ashish Kulkarni, primarily as chief coordinator between the two ruling parties, at the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

Kulkarni, basically a man from the party organisation, had played a stellar role in strategising the BJP’s all-seat win in the Rajya Sabha polls. He did a similar show in the Legislative Council polls, after which the Shinde group went to Surat in a revolt that toppled the Uddhav Thackeray government in June. Kulkarni was in the Shiv Sena before joining the Congress, as part of its strategic team in New Delhi. Later, he joined the BJP.