Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry and Prakasam in Andhra Pradesh also witnessed a tense atmosphere amid confrontation between the party workers.
Congress MLC Pradnya Satav joined the BJP in Maharashtra, prompting accusations of undemocratic practices and political maneuvering ahead of local elections.
With local body elections approaching in Maharashtra, a significant portion of the Congress party is advocating for contesting independently to regain lost ground amidst the BJP's growing influence. The party is currently part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.
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 BJP-led government's decision to grant Kunbi status to individuals from the Maratha community has opened a Pandora's box.
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.
Asked about going with Raj Thackeray, who has spoken often against north Indians in Mumbai, Chennithala said, "We do not agree with Raj Thackeray's statement about ousting people from North from Mumbai."
'The question for the TMC is not whether it can hold its bastions, but whether it can expand effectively into regions where the BJP already possesses a good ecosystem.'
Patole, the MLA from Sakoli in Bhandara district, had resigned as speaker of Maharashtra assembly on Thursday.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Manikrao Thakre quit his post owning moral responsibility for the party's defeat in the state assembly elections on Sunday.
Thorat, 66, has been a farmers' leader and has been involved in the cooperative movement in Maharashtra. He is also a former revenue minister
Deshmukh is a senior leader from the Vidarbha region.
'Gandhi had given the call 'Do or Die'. And with all the leaders arrested, you had to be your own leader.'
The BJP on Saturday accused the Congress of repeatedly supplying "oxygen" to Pakistan, and slammed the opposition party for its leader Charanjit Singh Channi's remarks questioning the veracity of Balakot air strikes after the 2019 Pulwama terror attack. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that the Congress is full of pro-Pakistan leaders who make statements against India's interests, and mocked the party for its letter that had advised its functionaries to toe the official line on the issue. Patra also criticized other Congress leaders for their comments on the Pulwama and Pahalgam terror attacks, accusing them of lowering the morale of the armed forces. He further slammed the Congress for claiming credit for the government's announcement of the caste census and said the party never carried out the exercise during its over 60-year stint in power.
Former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, who was shot dead in Mumbai, was a popular figure in Bollywood circles and had earned praise for supplying life-saving medicines to patients during the Covid pandemic.
The constituency is being represented by senior BJP leader and Union minister Raosaheb Danve, who has won this seat five times on the trot.
The Congress is all set to come back to power in Maharashtra for a third term.
Deshmukh, who is a senior leader from the Vidarbha region, replaces Govindrao Adik.
In a major setback for the Congress ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan who announced his resignation from the Congress party on Monday, will join the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday.
'No political party can antagonise Ambedkarite voters, particularly the neo-Buddhists.'
They said a 'mock poll' would be conducted in the Central Hall of the Samvidhan Sadan at around 2:30 PM on Monday after the briefing on the procedure to vote in the vice presidential polls.
Shiv Sena-Uhhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said the seat-sharing talks between his party and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar have concluded as these two parties are driven by a desire and mindset to resolve issues.
'There are legions of unemployed degree holders across rural and semi-urban belts in Maharashtra. Now, they aren't finding brides.' 'This issue has now snowballed into a social crisis. In 2014 and 2019, they had voted for the BJP.'
Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra legislative assembly Eknath Khadse has welcomed the hanging of 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab saying that justice has been done.
BJP MP and actor Ravi Kishan has been awarded the Sansad Ratna for his outstanding performance in the Lok Sabha, becoming the first actor-turned-politician to receive the honour.
On the 83rd anniversary of the Quit India movement, Utkarsh Mishra recalls the conditions under which the Congress, led by Mahatma Gandhi, launched the final struggle for independence.
The stage is set for a direct contest between NDA nominee C P Radhakrishnan and joint opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy for the September 9 vice-presidential election. Nominations have been scrutinized and accepted.
The stage is set for a direct contest between NDA nominee C P Radhakrishnan and joint opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy for the vice-presidential election. The BJP-led alliance has a clear edge in the poll necessitated due to the sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi has called off her Maharashtra visit on Sunday because of health reasons, party sources said.
The Maharashtra legislative assembly passed the 'Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill' aimed at preventing unlawful activities of Left Wing Extremist organizations, focusing on urban Naxalism and passive militancy.
'The BJP alliance needs to handle the Maratha quota issue skilfully and address its root cause, which is agrarian distress. Then there is stalled industrialisation. If these issues are addressed, caste fault lines would wither away. But, this is next to impossible in a short span of three-four months.'
Speaking to media after meeting party functionaries at Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee office in Mumbai, the former diplomat also said his aim was to make Congress stronger before the 2024 polls.
Deshmukh, a member the MPCC's Parliamentary Board, has blamed Patole for the rebellion by party's youth leader Satyajit Tambe, who has filed his nomination as an independent from the Nashik division graduates' constituency for the January 30 biennial elections to the Legislature Council.
The panel, headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, had called Patkar to hear her views on the implementation and effectiveness of the land acquisition law enacted by Parliament when the Congress-led UPA government was in power in 2013.
The principal opposition party though appeared content securing 99 of the 543 seats in the 2024 national elections as against its all-time low of 44 in 2014 and then 52 in 2019.
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.
Sushilkumar Shinde will now head a 69-member jumbo ministry of the Democratic Front govt.
Earlier, three Rane supporters quit their assembly seat which they had won as Sena nominees in 2004 polls, and had joined Congress.
'The people who were assigned the role to look after the affairs of the Congress in Maharashtra have failed.'
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