Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis may have said that his recent visit to New Delhi was devoid of any political agenda against the backdrop of the Rajasthan crisis, but leaders across the parties, including his own clan, will not buy this explanation.

His visit did serve the purpose of creating political perceptions, based on which the unfolding of events could be speculated. Fadnavis talked a lot about the issues that have been dogging the sugar industry and the cooperatives that have shaped up the rich sugar belt and political hotbed of the western and southern Maharashtra, and partly Marathwada. The leaders from these areas have ruled the state for most of the period, thanks to the committed vote banks and the money power they built through the cooperatives sector. Sharad Pawar has been lording over the sector, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) first dented his fiefdom in 2014. It started making inroads by disrupting the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress-controlled sugar lobby and the farmers, who are equally interested in cooperative politics.