This is to enable Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to reduce the size of his cabinet as per a Constitutional amendment.
The Congress party has not only distanced itself from Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan but also made him clarify his recent statement that the party's decision to give the home ministry to the Nationalist Congress Party -- its ally in the state -- was a mistake. Both the central leadership and the state unit of the Congress preferred not to offer any comment but indicated that it was Chavan's personal remark that came after the July 13 blasts.
'Jitni umar likhi hai, utni likhi hai. Bas yahin hai.'
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and senior leader Jairam Ramesh were among the 10 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha on Friday from Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, while counting was underway in Maharashtra after an eight-hour delay due to wrangling by rival parties over alleged breach of voting rules.
Haryana Congress chief Bhajan Lal said Umed Singh Kashyap's presence in the party will boost its prospects in the forthcoming Lok Sabha and state assembly elections.
Ahead of assembly polls in Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of merger with Congress, terming as "cheap publicity" statements in this regard made by that party.
Congress has no plans to follow suit in the wake of its ruling coalition partner in Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party on Friday taking the resignation of its 20 ministers in the state to go for a reshuffle in the party as well as the government.
He furnished an undertaking before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan pursuant to a March 14 order by the apex court.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was on Sunday night elected as the leader of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party.
"We have not even thought about merger. It is not on the cards," he said, complaining that the statements he issued after his recent trip to Delhi were misreported or misinterpreted.
Okram Landhoni, wife of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh won the Khangabok Assembly constituency, Thoubal district, with a margin of over 18,000 votes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is expected to cede housing ministry to the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra following the likely cabinet expansion in the state, sources said, adding that the BJP will retain the home ministry.
Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar working president Supriya Sule has said her party, which won just 10 seats in the Maharashtra assembly elections, will introspect over the poll results and pledged to work towards a capable, inclusive and progressive state.
The two parties have agreed to contest 26 and 22 seats respectively.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Friday said that the defeat of its coalition partner Congress in the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh show that the party was ignorant of ground realities.Stating that national politics cannot move forward without the NCP, Pawar said that it was an important party. In Gujarat, the NCP had won three seats. "With this, the party has made its presence felt in 11 assemblies," he said.
Skirting the issue of a pre-poll alliance with Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday kicked off her party's campaign for the October 13 Maharashtra assembly polls, with a call to workers to reach out to the people with renewed vigour.Sonia reaffirmed her party's irrevocable commitment to protecting the interests of the 'aam admi', which was the focus of the Congress' policies and programmes.
Miffed over the Congress central leadership nominating poet-politician Imran Pratapgarhi, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, as its candidate from Maharashtra for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, party functionary Ashish Deshmukh on Tuesday resigned from the post of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary.
The Congress on Monday refused to read any political overtures in the meeting between its ally Nationalist Congress Party's chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray in Mumbai, saying it was to ensure the conduct of a hassle-free IPL. Asked whether Pawar's meeting with Thackeray was a snub to the Congress, party spokesperson Abhishekh Manu Singhvi said, "Pawar has met Thackeray to prevent the politics of disruption in cricketing matters."
Former MLA Harshwardhan Sapkal has been appointed as the new president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), tasked with reviving the party in the state after its crushing defeat in the last year's assembly polls. Sapkal, a veteran politician, replaces Nana Patole, who held the position since 2021. The Congress aims to rebuild its base and prepare for upcoming local body polls, including those in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, and Nagpur. The party will also need to work with its allies, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), to strengthen the opposition against the ruling BJP-led alliance.
The grand old party faces the onerous task of rebuilding its moribund organisation, which is struggling to overcome a leadership crisis and regain credibility with the voters.
The diplomatic exercise aimed at presenting India's stance against Pakistan on terror comes in the wake of Operation Sindoor -- the Indian offensive against terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed.
The minister neither provided any age-wise break-up nor specified the causes behind the death of the children.
Senior congress leaders are underplaying the nationalist Congress Party-Congress face off saying all is well between the two parties and that the Pawar-Praful duo are merely positioning themselves and that there are really no real problems which need to be addressed. Renu Mittal reports.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear petitions challenging the Election Commission's decision to revise electoral rolls in Bihar. The hearing is scheduled for July 10.
With Nationalist Congress Party leader Chagan Bhujbal floating the idea of rotating the post of chief minister, senior Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh said on Thursday there was no doubt about his party getting the Chief Ministership in Maharashtra.
''He is being operated upon by a team of doctors, led by neurosurgeon Dr Nitin Dange, cosmetic surgeon Dr Leena Jain and anaesthesiologist Dr Nisha Gandhi.'
'And Nana Patole fits the bill perfectly.' 'There is nothing wrong in being aggressive and today Patole is our angry young man.'
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday sought to downplay the abuses hurled against him by Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi, saying he treated the matter as a closed chapter. "There is no need to speak anything more on this matter. I think there is no need to give much importance to the matter. The Congress party has taken a decision on this as the remarks were not in good taste. For me the chapter is closed," said the agriculture minister.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has opted not to grant tickets to eight MLAs, followed by Congress which replaced five MLAs.
Though the party has made no announcement, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister in the outgoing government, is being seen as the frontrunner for the key position.
It is unfortunate that the Congress has taken a decision of contesting the elections in alliance with the JMM without even consulting allies in the UPA government, he said.
Congress candidates were leading over their Nationalist Congress Party rivals in two assembly constituencies in Arunachal Pradesh.
Sulking ally Nationalist Congress Party on Monday kept the Congress guessing on its pullout plans from the government but made it clear that it will not rock the United Progressive Alliance boat and continue its support "till the end".
Activist Manoj Jarange's hunger strike demanding Maratha quota continues for the third day in Mumbai, following a meeting with a government delegation. The protest has caused traffic disruptions and highlights the ongoing debate over reservation policies in Maharashtra.
Wouldn't it be better to join the celebrations with the vast Hindu majority while at the same time criticising Mr Modi/BJP/RSS for politicising it? notes Shekhar Gupta.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday refuted the allegation that the Nationalist Congress Party ditched the Congress in recent elections to the posts of Zilla Parishad chairman and vice-chairman in the state, saying it was the Congress which had failed to honour the `dharma' of coalition.
Asked whether the AAP was more eager for an alliance with the Congress, he said the Bharatiya Janata Party would benefit in a three-cornered contest.
Amid opposition call for his resignation over the Beed sarpanch murder case, Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde on Wednesday said he is ready to quit if asked by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis or deputy CM Ajit Pawar.
Thousands of people gathered in Maharashtra's Beed city on Saturday to protest against the brutal murder of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh as even MLAs from ruling parties demanded the sacking of Nationalist Congress Party minister Dhananjay Munde.
