In the wake of collapse of the Shivaji Maharaj statue in Sindhudurg, the Maharashtra government has issued a tender for the construction of a new 60-foot-tall statue there, nearly twice the size of the previous one, officials said on Wednesday.
The free education policy should be amended so that boys also get free education besides girls, and all Marathas should get free education "from KG to PG" (kindergarten to post-graduation) until the entire community gets reservation, he said.
His remarks come a day after Ajit Pawar apologised to the people of the state for the collapse of the structure which was installed in the coastal district's Malvan tehsil, around 480km from Mumbai.
Instead of agitating, be ready for celebration, Maha CM Devendra Fadnavis said.
The BJP has again fielded Prataprao Patil Chikhalikar who humbled Ashok Chavan in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by over 40,000 votes.
The girl mentioned in the note that she had secured 89 per cent marks in her Class 10 exams held earlier this year, but could not get admission under a category where her family could have paid less fees, Sanas said.
The assembly also witnessed a brief adjournment after the ruling alliance members pointed to remarks of Jarange and alleged there was a conspiracy to create unrest in the state.
The development came as the Thackeray-led party is reeling under the impact of Eknath Shinde's rebellion and the loss of power in Maharashtra.
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 announcement, made at the end of a speech of more than one hour in Antarwali Sarati in Jalna in which Jarange made several allegations against Fadnavis, took his supporters by surprise.
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.
It fixed March 17 to hear at length a batch of pleas filed for and against the Maratha quota.
Sculptor Jaydeep Apte, who has been arrested in connection with the collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's statue, came to meet his family at Kalyan in Thane district as he wanted to surrender before the police, his counsel has claimed.
The 10-day-old BJP-led Mahayuti alliance ministry in Maharashtra was expanded on Sunday, with 39 ministers being sworn in, taking its strength to 42. The BJP secured 19 ministerial berths, followed by 11 for the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and 9 for Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party. Governor P C Radhakrishnan administered the oath to the new ministers at the ceremony held in Nagpur. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar were present.
Chetan Patil, the structural consultant, had claimed that he was not the structural consultant for the project.
'Modi is not assuring the nation that if he gets back to power in 2024 and remains in power till 2029, he will not change the Constitution.'
Maratha outfits have announced that a mega rally will be held in Mumbai on August 9 in support of their quota demand.
At the Battle of Malegaon, Muslim soldiers in the Maratha army defied the British army for a full month when they had no hope of victory as the Chhatrapati and Peshwa had already surrendered.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said if stainless steel had been used for construction of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's statue at Rajkot fort in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district, it would not have collapsed.
Voters, it is said, get the government they deserve. We will soon see what voters in Maharashtra choose. Till then, a sense of helplessness and scepticism hangs in the air, notes Ramesh Menon.
Know the forts India has nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Marathas, a politically influential community that constitutes around 30 per cent of the state's population, have been demanding 16 per cent reservation in government jobs and education.
Nobody has claimed that the wagh nakh being brought to the state from London was used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Maharashtra minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told the legislative assembly.
'The participants and organisers have rejected their own political leadership and shown the door to leaders who have tried to claim power at these rallies.' 'Instead, the Maratha masses have reclaimed their power and stakes in the larger scheme of things.'
Meanwhile, a structural engineer named in the case registered in connection with the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's statue claimed that he was not the structural consultant for the project.
Sindhudurg police in Maharashtra has formed seven teams to track down sculptor Jaydeep Apte who executed the contract to make the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj that collapsed on Rajkot fort last month, an official said on Wednesday.
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.
Bhujbal, who has strongly opposed the demand to include the Marathas in the other backward classes category for quota benefits, said a new social system is taking shape in Maharashtra which is different from the order envisaged by prominent social reformers.
The NCP leader asked how suddenly a number of records showing Marathas as belonging to the Kunbi caste were being found.
Marathas, a politically-influential community constituting around 30 per cent of the state's population, have been demanding reservation in jobs and education.
Sena-UBT leader and former Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray visited the Rajkot fort on Wednesday to take stock of the situation post the statue collapse.
'I am a Muslim and if my Hindu brothers were to march to my house and if that were to give birth to any controversy, then this government will use it to exploit another issue.' 'I don't want to give BJP leaders a chance to play their communal politics.'
The court further held that the state's legislative competence is not affected by the amendment to Article 342(a) of the Constitution of India.
The government will stand guarantor for loans to be disbursed to youth from the community.
Gandhi slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party over the collapse of the statue of the warrior king at Rajkot fort in Sindhudurg district, and said the party's ideology is not right.
The judgment from a five-judge Constitution bench, led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, offers clarity on licensing regulations and is expected to prevent insurance companies from rejecting claims based on the type of licence of drivers involved in accidents.
The government said it would complete the process of quota for Marathas, which had remained incomplete after the high court stayed it in 2014.
The top court, which refused to pass any interim stay order on the quota, said chances of physical court seem remote due to the persisting COVID-19 pandemic. A bench of Justices L N Rao, Hemant Gupta and S Ravindra Bhatt asked the parties said that all parties should sit together and decide on modalities of hearing like who will take how much time and no one shall repeat the arguments.
Around 20 policemen, including eight officers, were injured in stone-pelting by protesters at Kopar Khairane and Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai.
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.
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