The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) on Tuesday named a stand each after the incumbent India Test captain Rohit Sharma, former skipper Ajit Wadekar and ex-BCCI president Sharad Pawar here at the Wankhede Stadium.
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.
NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said hundreds of party workers courted arrest against Rane's 'defamatory' tweet against the party chief.
Pawar said in the last 10 years, people have voted Kejriwal to power, adding that Aam Aadmi Party ministers have been jailed and steps were being taken to arrest him as well.
Shah also challenged the Congress to implement its Lok Sabha election promise of providing Rs 8500 monthly to women in states ruled by the party.
Multi-cornered contests, deep divisions within the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, reflected in the Congress and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray fighting separately and lack of a robust plan among its rivals helped the Bharatiya Janata Party in Mumbai polls as it looks poised to rule India's richest civic body for the first time.
At the state level, Pawar appealed to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the quota dispute.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday said there was a need to fight the forces creating communal divide in Maharashtra and the country.
Political tensions rise in Maharashtra as OBC, SC, and ST groups express concerns over a government resolution on the Maratha quota. Chief Minister Fadnavis cautions against divisive politics, while Sharad Pawar accuses the government of weakening the social fabric.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday claimed that Uddhav Thackeray planned to make Eknath Shinde the chief minister of Maharashtra after the 2019 polls, but first the Bharatiya Janata Party and later Maha Vikas Aghadi allies including Sharad Pawar played a spoilsport.
He sought to nix speculation that the Congress and the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray were working on a 'Plan B' to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls without his faction of the Nationalist Congress Party.
NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase told reporters that the party workers do not want Pawar to step down.
Speculation is rife that Sunetra Pawar could be fielded by the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency against Sule, who is Ajit's cousin and the daughter of party founder Sharad Pawar.
The campaign vehicle carried a banner with photographs of Sunetra Pawar and Ajit Pawar with the symbol of the Nationalist Congress Party.
'The jail staff told me Kasab was served only jail food and not biryani.' 'They told me that Kasab was beaten regularly after court proceedings.' 'And they filled Kasab's bottle with urine so that whenever he felt thirsty he used to drink urine.'
Maharashtra is set to hold local body elections on December 2 for municipal councils and nagar panchayats. The polls are seen as a test of the ruling coalition's strength after their recent assembly election victory.
Dismissing speculation that he was about to be replaced as chief minister, Shinde said these were baseless rumours which cause him no "tension", and the "higher ups" will take appropriate decision.
Following Raut's statement, the MNS, however, said the party's stand is decided by its chief.
'I do not know why he went to Delhi because I have not been in touch with him for months now and I would not be able to give an answer why he visited Delhi'
Upset over being denied tickets by the Bharatiya Janata Party despite being its 'loyal workers for years', several aspirants have rebelled against the party and are now contesting the upcoming elections to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) as independent candidates.
He said that ruling party MLAs Manda Mhatre (BJP) and Sanjay Gaikwad (Shiv Sena) have also spoken about the duplication of voters and irregularities in the electoral rolls.
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.
'It would have polarised the Marathi-non Marathi divide further. 'Fadnavis had a very clear strategy: Let all Marathi people campaign for us (the BJP), and whatever results we get will be delivered by Marathi people only.'
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday termed the criticism of Uddhav Thackeray in Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar's autobiography "wrong information" and downplayed it by claiming books are read for two days and then put into libraries.
'Now there is no fight between us (Thackerays); now the fight is with them.'
Marking a vertical split in the Nationalist Congress Party, its senior leader Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government as deputy chief minister on Sunday.
Three years after he teamed up with Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar in an overnight coup to form the government in Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said the exercise had NCP chief Sharad Pawar's backing.
Suresh Kalmadi brought several top-class events to India including the 2003 Afro Asian Games, the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games, the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
'He has a fierce will power; he has been a fighter all his life and even at this age his spirit is strong enough to take on any kind of adversity that comes his way.'
The present strength of the electoral college is 781 as six seats are vacant in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha. This puts the majority mark at 391. The NDA has 425 MPs, while the opposition camp has the backing of 324.
The Sharad Pawar camp described the ruling as a "murder of democracy" which would be challenged in the Supreme Court.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra has collected letters of support from more than 160 of its candidates and some independents, pledging their backing for the alliance in forming a government in the state if voted to power. The counting of votes for the elections to the 288-member legislative assembly held on November 20 began on Saturday. The letters of support collected from more than 160 candidates will be presented to the governor after declaration of results, sources said.
Sharad Pawar on Friday evening announced that he was not stepping down as the president of the Nationalist Congress Party.
"However, some members were ready to face the inquiry. (Ex-home minister) Anil Deshmukh was in jail for 14 months. Even Deshmukh was asked to change his role (loyalty) but he stood firm on his decision (to not quit NCP)," Pawar said.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has held a meeting with Union Home Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah in Delhi.
In 1999, Sharad Pawar, along with P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar were expelled from Congress. The same year, Pawar founded the NCP.
Raut claimed Sharad Pawar recently told Uddhav Thackeray that his party will never join hands with the BJP.
'Mr Bindra stressed the importance of marketing the game which helped Indian cricket massively. Not only have state associations become self sufficient but the cricketers have also benefitted greatly.'
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party has informed the Election Commission that he has been elected national president of the party.
