MUMBAI, July 25 -- The tacit turf war between chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde has intensified, expressed by a "file war". Shinde recently asked ministers of his party, Shiv Sena, to route all their files through him before they are sent to Fadnavis for a final nod, in a break from established norms. People in the know have told HT that this has been the practice over the last two weeks by nine cabinet ministers and two state ministers of the party. Fadnavis learnt about the deviation from Bharatiya Jana Party (BJP) MLAs, during the recently concluded monsoon session of the state legislature, following which he directed the urban development department (UDD), helmed by Shinde, to send all the files related to funds and ongoing schemes directly to his office. Meanwhile, Shinde's diktat, followed by departments such as industries, health, education and transport, among others, has resulted in a pile-up at his desk. According to officials of respective departments, "several major proposals are stuck because of the tussle between the two". An official from the transport department said, "When Shinde issued the mandate, bureaucrats pointed out the established protocol - that the files should first go to deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who is also the finance minister, and then to the Shinde, before they are sent to Fadnavis for the final nod. The set procedure was also reinforced by the general administration department (GAD), soon after Mahayuti formed the government in December last year. However, now the files are sent to Shinde by the offices of respective Sena ministers." The deputy chief minister issued the diktat after he realised that the funds allocated to departments held by his party were inadequate. According to the rules, funds are supposed to be equally distributed to ministers across parties; however, Shinde was keen that Sena ministers get the better share, said a Sena leader....