Former Maharashtra minister and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Aaditya Thackeray on Monday claimed nearly '50 people', including 'some middlemen' and personal assistants, will be part of the delegation that will travel with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for the World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering in Davos, Switzerland.
Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
The decision comes a day after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said a government-appointed committee scrutinised 1.72 crore old documents (including those of Nizam-era) and among them, 11,530 records were found where Kunbi caste was mentioned.
The BJP cannot afford to alienate the OBCs, who have explicitly voiced their opposition to the Maratha quota.
I did not take up research for any award.' 'What is more important is the medicine that I have developed.' 'This helps the patient recover and the family is happy that their relative has survived and they go back to their lives.
The development comes in the wake of an indefinite hunger strike launched by activist Manoj Jarange in Jalna district on Wednesday to demand reservation for the Maratha community.
As the 40-day deadline he set before the Maharashtra government to implement Maratha reservation came to an end, activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday launched his indefinite fast to press for the demand for quota to the community.
The disclosure by Chhagan Bhujbal that he resigned as a minister last November has put a focus on the Maratha quota tightrope the Eknath Shinde-led government is walking amid restlessness in OBCs, with Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray claiming Bhujbal and the Bharatiya Janata Party are hand in glove.
'The (Maratha) community people have understood that this is the same reservation that they were given earlier also (but was later struck down)'
A Maratha community member from Dharashiv in Maharashtra, who was the first one to be given the Kunbi caste certificate in the district as part of the ongoing survey exercise, has decided to return the document to the authorities, saying he wants all Marathas in the state to be given this benefit.
Hingoli MP Hemant Patil submitted his resignation to the Lok Sabha secretariat in New Delhi on Monday, while Nashik MP Hemant Godse sent his resignation letter to CM Shinde.
Activist Manoj Jarange on Monday said he will set out on a tour of Maharashtra after the Diwali festival to meet Marathas and make them aware about the issue of reservation for the community.
A 45-year-old Maratha quota activist allegedly committed suicide in Bandra area of Mumbai in the early hours of Thursday leaving behind a note in which he urged community members to fight for the cause, a police official said.
The NCP leader asked how suddenly a number of records showing Marathas as belonging to the Kunbi caste were being found.
Referring to the demand of giving a Kunbi certificate to all 54 lakh people whose proof of being Kunabi has been found till now, Patil said that they will be given the certificates soon.
Amid a fresh wave of protests in Maharashtra over the Maratha quota demand, authorities in Dharashiv district of the state on Wednesday started distributing Kunbi caste certificates to the eligible Maratha community members, paving the way for their inclusion in the OBC category.
Jarange appealed to Shinde and his deputies to come together and resolve the issue of Maratha quota, an emotive issue which has been dominating the state's political discourse for the last few months.
Leaders at an all-party meeting on Maratha quota chaired by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday passed a resolution asking activist Manoj Jarange to call off his indefinite fast.
'It is now the government's duty to find a way out of this impasse without hurting interests of any sections of Maharashtrian people.'
The situation is currently under control, Beed Superintendent of Police Nandkumar Thakur told PTI.
Khotkar, who is from Jalna district, was a minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led government that was in power between 2014-19.
Drivers of commercial vehicles, including trucks and tankers, stopped work in several states on Monday and blocked roads at some places to protest against the provision in the new penal law regarding hit-and-run accident cases involving motorists.
Union minister Raosaheb Danve has caused a flutter by saying if the Bharatiya Janata Party needs victory in the Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra in 2024, then it must ensure that All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen leader and sitting MP Imtiaz Jaleel contests the election next year.
Jarange, who was earlier on a hunger strike in the village over his demand for reservation for the Maratha community under the OBC category, had ended his fast on September 14 on the 17th day after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met him and assured to fulfil his demand.
Any long dry spell could cause moisture stress in the standing crop during the crucial maturing stage and also make it prone to pest and disease attacks.
Fasting quota activist Manoj Jarange on Monday sought reservation for the Maratha community in entire Maharashtra and not in specific regions and warned the ongoing agitation will be ratcheted up if the demand was not fulfilled by the state government.
The erring doctor had gone for a morning walk leaving the woman patient with inexperienced nursing staff, a police official said on Sunday citing a report of the committee of senior doctors of Government Hospital and Medical College (GHMC) Aurangabad, which probed the matter.
'Over the last 65 years the state has seen majority of Maratha chief ministers and cabinet ministers, even Union cabinet ministers.' 'The Marathas have always wielded disproportionately significant political, commercial and social influence in the state and yet they are asking for reservations today.'
Activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday asked the Maharashtra government to make it clear whether it is ready to provide reservation to the entire Maratha community and why it needs more time in granting quota to it.
State-run bus services have been completely suspended in five Marathwada districts while curfew and Internet shut-down have been imposed in parts of Beed where the houses of political leaders were targeted by protesters.
NCP led by the former Union minister said the Election Commission had sought its response to a petition filed by Ajit Pawar, and the party submitted its "preliminary response" to the poll panel on September 7.
At least 12 people were killed and 23 others injured when a speeding mini-bus hit a container truck on Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district in the early hours of Sunday, police said.
Alia Bhatt won hearts when she wore her wedding sari at the 69th National Film Awards at the Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi. The ivory embroidered drape was designed by Sabyasachi Mukherjee.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday ordered a probe into a road accident on the Samruddhi Expressway which claimed 12 lives.
It was a special-purpose mobile gantry crane used in bridge construction and to install precast box girders in highway construction projects.
A "big spark" in the electricity pole providing power to the girder launcher preceded its collapse during the construction of a viaduct for the Samruddhi Expressway in Maharashtra's Thane district a day ago, in which at least 20 persons were killed, the police said on Wednesday.
Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Raosaheb Danve on Monday claimed 12 members of Parliament of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena are in touch with the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde faction and are ready to cross over.
Shinde announced that his government is committed to providing reservation to the Maratha community.
Any move of the present government to appease the Marathas may boomerang. Eknath Shinde is a worried man with the agitation not having an easy solution, notes Ramesh Menon.
A few days later, three members of the Bishnoi gang delivered a letter threatening Bollywood actor Salman Khan and his father Salim Khan, police had said.
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