The Bombay High Court has reserved its order on comedian Kunal Kamra's petition seeking the quashing of an FIR registered against him for allegedly making defamatory remarks against Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The court also granted Kamra interim protection from arrest.
'Ajit Pawar and some other people felt it was better to be supporting the BJP and have a coalition with the BJP than support the Congress.' 'But Sharad Pawar did not want to be a party to this kind of an opportunistic alliance.'
"If anyone did suggest that we should support the BJP contrary to the stand we had taken, (even) then many in the party including me did not agree with that (suggestion). Our stand not to go with the BJP was very clear," Sharad Pawar said.
Pawar said PM Modi's charisma is seen all over the country and hoped Maharashtra which follows secular thoughts will benefit from this charisma.
The opposition party, however, said the four eminent Congress MPs and leaders who have been included at the instance of the Modi government will, of course, go with the delegations and make their contributions.
Pankaja Munde of the BJP -- Dhananjay Munde's cousin -- has been made the guardian minister of Jalna district.
Though Ajit Pawar didn't include his mum's name when taking the oath as Maharashtra's deputy CM for a record sixth time, he sought his 87-year-old mother Asha Pawar's blessings before being sworn in.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Amol Mitkari said, "It could be a family meeting between the two leaders".
In his lifetime, it was his prerogative to decide who should use his photograph, he said.
The IMD issued a "Nowcast" warning, forecasting thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and intense spells of rain with gusty winds reaching 50-60 kmph at isolated places in Mumbai in the next three to four hours.
Pawar, who described himself as the national president of the NCP, said employment, economic empowerment of all sections of the society, education, health, implementation of all welfare measures are the priority of the government.
"Sharad Pawar's presence has extraordinary importance when a new battle for freedom is going on in the country to save the Constitution and democracy, and in such a situation, Pawar should not step aside," he said.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was on Wednesday named as the guardian minister of his home district Pune in place of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and cabinet minister Chandrakant Patil.
The luncheon meeting was held at the INS Angre auditorium, a state government official said.
Former India captains Dilip Vengsarkar and Diana Edulji were conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).aments.
Amid suspense over Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)'s prime ministerial face for the 2024 general elections, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said the 1977 Lok Sabha polls were fought by the opposition without projecting Morarji Desai as the PM candidate.
'There is a hunch that BJP's 'Chanakya' is trying to create some confusion by sending Ajit to meet senior Pawar'
Ratan Tata is Maharashtra's first Udyog Ratna.
Addressing a press conference, Pawar said the trends of the assembly polls (in five states set to be held in November) suggest the situation is favourable for the opposition, but added he had no authentic information to comment on whether there would be a change (in government) at the national level.
'We were discussing government formation with Sharad Pawar. We had even finalised portfolio distribution and guardian ministers' responsibilities'
Pawar did not entertain requests from members of the opposition INDIA alliance to not share stage with Modi.
'They know Sharad Pawar will be playing a huge role in unifying the Opposition.'
Notably, when asked by reporters if he would take legal recourse after Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy chief minister on Sunday, Sharad Pawar had said he would not get into all this but will go among people.
The reality is that far from being friendless, India is better positioned in the world than at any point post-Cold War, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The respect for the four-time former chief minister, often referred to as Saheb, in his stronghold of western Maharashtra is palpable in much of the region. But his estranged nephew also appears to enjoy a stature of his own in Baramati, a constituency represented by the senior Pawar for six terms before he passed the baton to Ajit Pawar in 1991.
The Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions of the NCP are holding their meetings in Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in south Mumbai and in Bhujbal Knowledge City in suburban Bandra, respectively, on Wednesday.
I think Sharad Pawar invited Ajit Pawar for the INDIA bloc meeting, Raut said.
Unofficially though, it is claimed that Ajit Pawar has the support of 29 MLAs, and the number could add up within two days.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Monday asked the NCP faction led by his nephew Ajit Pawar how a way out can be found in the current political scenario as demanded by them when they had already cleared their stand in public.
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.
Addressing a press conference in Satara, Sharad Pawar also said he has launched a statewide tour to strengthen the NCP and boost the confidence of party workers, unfazed by actions of a few leaders.
'The cousins do not have a good rapport with each other in politics, though they may be having a good rapport with each other in family life.'
'There is no grain of truth in the speculation that the Congress is thinking of contesting the Lok Sabha elections without taking Sharad Pawar along'
'We know these are mind games Ajit dada is playing, but he (Sharad Pawar) doesn't get swayed by such gestures.'
The Congress on Sunday said it was not stopping anyone from being part of diplomatic delegations to be sent to various countries following Operation Sindoor and that its leaders who have been named at the instance of the government must listen to their conscience and contribute to the exercise.
With reports surfacing of differences between Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis, Fadnavis was out seeking new allies. A disgruntled Ajit Pawar was easy to persuade.
'If they don't make Ajit Pawar chief minister, what can he do?'
Five months after a couple of Pawars jousted in an electoral battle in Baramati, two other Pawars will take on each other at the hustings on November 20, 2024.
NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule has criticized the Maharashtra government's decision to make Hindi a mandatory third language in schools, stating that it will not tolerate any undermining of the Marathi language. Sule also criticized the state's implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, expressing concerns about its potential impact on students and teachers. She also questioned the appointment of a retired bureaucrat as the chief economic advisor to the chief minister and criticized the state's performance in areas like fiscal deficit management and the Jal Jeevan Mission.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Saturday received a grand welcome in Baramati, which is his assembly constituency and also the pocket borough of party chief Sharad Pawar, on his first visit after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra and parting ways with his uncle.
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