MUMBAI, Aug. 31 -- As the Maratha reservation agitation entered its second day with no signs of activist Manoj Jarange-Patil withdrawing his hunger strike, the ruling Mahayuti did not appear to be on the same page. While chief minister Devendra Fadnavis asked the cabinet sub-committee on the Maratha reservation issue to discuss Jarange-Patil's demands, deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde upped and left for his ancestral village Dare on Saturday evening while the second deputy CM Ajit Pawar was busy with his engagements in Pune. Significantly, the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) alleged that Shinde was helping the Maratha outfits to get Fadnavis into political trouble. From the day that Jarange-Patil reached Mumbai and began his hunger strike, Fadnavis has chosen not to engage with him directly. No minister from the government has gone to meet him, and the cabinet-sub-committee headed by senior BJP minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil has been asked to hold a meeting first and then begin talks with the Maratha activist. As such, there have been no deliberations or meetings of Fadnavis and his two deputies on the issue since Friday when Jarange-Patil began his hunger strike. Both Shinde and Pawar seemed to be maintaining their distance, as Vikhe-Patil assumed charge of the talks in consultation with Fadnavis, said a senior Shiv Sena minister. "When Shinde was the chief minister, he had handled the Maratha agitation quite well," he said. "Even after Jarange-Patil marched to Mumbai last year, Shinde did not allow him to enter the city and halted the march at Navi Mumbai. He himself went to Navi Mumbai to meet the activist, who withdrew his agitation after the government accepted his demand for issuing Kunbi caste certificates to relatives by blood or marriage." The minister added that Shinde was not consulted on handling Jarange-Patil's current agitation. "He accompanied union home minister Amit Shah during the latter's visit to Mumbai and even had a meeting with him," he said. "When Shah left the city, Shinde left for his ancestral village in Satara district. His schedule for the next two days is not clear." Meanwhile, the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) accused Shinde of using the Maratha agitation to embroil Fadnavis in trouble. "Shinde has been tacitly helping the Maratha protesters just to trap him," said Sena (UBT) MP Sajay Raut....