Four BJP leaders and former Supreme Court judge S Abdul Nazeer, who was part of the Constitution bench that upheld the archaeological report on Ayodhya, were among six new faces appointed as Governors on Sunday.
'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.'
Ajit Pawar said CM Shinde is not capable of getting big projects to Maharashtra.
According to political analysts, the results of these bypolls, which saw a high-voltage campaign by senior leaders from various parties, will set the tone for the forthcoming elections in the state, including of the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and other civic bodies.
As the Opposition on Wednesday held its first meeting on the presidential election, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice for the top constitutional post with senior party leader Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Naveen Patnaik, sources said.
Uddhav Thackeray dared PM Modi to fulfil Savarkar's dream of "akhand Bharat"
After being outwitted by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in the recent Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra, the ruling Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is now facing another challenge of getting all its six candidates elected to the state Legislative Council in the June 20 polls, which has once again put the spotlight on Independents and smaller parties.
Sharad Pawar has left the door open for his nephew's return by not suspending him from the party for his rebellion.
Leaders of several opposition parties including the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Left assembled at Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar's residence in New Delhi on Tuesday and discussed various issues facing the country, amid intense speculation about the possibility of a third front against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Shiromani Akali Dal skipped the meeting, besides the Aam Aadmi Party, the TRS and the BJD.
The MLAs of the three ruling parties and the BJP have reached Mumbai ahead of the elections.
The Mumbai police have registered an FIR against 107 persons for rioting and conspiracy, following the protest outside Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar's residence, Silver Oak in south Mumbai, on Friday, an official said.
"Will fight and win. Won't bow down," Malik said waving to the waiting media as he stepped out of the ED office in south Mumbai after spending eight hours there. "Will expose all," he said before being taken by ED officials in a vehicle for medical check-up.
If a local court in Mumbai allows former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and minister Nawab Malik to cast their votes in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections, the two leaders will be brought to the Vidhan Bhavan, the state legislature complex in Mumbai, at a specific time to take part in the voting process, an official said on Wednesday.
The 62-year-old Nationalist Congress Party leader was taken into custody shortly before 3 pm after he was questioned for about six hours at the ED office in south Mumbai's Ballard Estate area.
'We were apprising the CM on such issues and he assured us these would stop but in vain'
The meeting will be held in Shiv Sena Bhavan in which the chief minister will join virtually.
Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar on Thursday said his recent meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray focused on how to expedite development programmes of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and maintained nothing else should be deciphered from it.
Bhujbal said he does not feel that there is a threat to the Maharashtra MVA government.
While Fadnavis has admitted that the letter was sent to him in good faith, he said that he would have to discuss with the party leadership before taking a decision.
Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday told the Bombay high court that the defamation suit filed against him by Dhyandev Wankhede, father of Narcotics Control Bureau zonal director Sameer Wankhede, was only an attempt to cover-up the 'illegalities' committed by the IRS officer and claimed none of his statements against them was false.
Prima facie, there was evidence to indicate that there was a 'conspiracy' between Hasina Parkar (Ibrahim's sister), Salim Patel (alleged associate of Ibrahim) and Malik to grab the land owned by Munira Plumber and her mother Mariyum Goawala, said R N Rokade, special judge for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Labour union leader Shrirang Barge said the state government would have known Dharmadhikari has a massive following and that the event would have attracted several lakh people, so why were arrangements for water, shade etc, missing.
Senior NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Wednesday said the Supreme Court order on the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) quota was a setback to the state government and it should do everything it can to save the community's reservation.
Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar might have discussed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the delay in the appointment of 12 members to the state Legislative Council from the Governor's quota, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Wednesday.
Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde will be the new chief minister of Maharashtra, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday.
Sources added that Wankhede, also submitted divorce papers of his first marriage, birth certificate and other related documents.
Top government sources also said the civic polls in the state, delayed due to the OBC reservation issue being heard by the Supreme Court, are likely to be held in October after getting a clarification from the apex court.
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Friday welcomed the Bombay high court's decision to allow his faction to hold its annual Dussehra rally at the iconic Shivaji Park ground in Mumbai, and said his party's faith in the judiciary stood vindicated.
Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh approached the Bombay high court on Thursday, seeking to quash the summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case registered against him.
Saying that the constitutional right to vote is not absolute, the Bombay high court on Friday rejected petitions filed by Nationalist Congress Party leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh seeking temporary release from prison for casting ballot in the June 20 Maharashtra Legislative Council election.
The tenure of controversial Narcotics Control Bureau Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede with the federal anti-narcotics agency has ended and his services have been put at the disposal of his parent organisation Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, officials said on Monday.
Nearly three months after his arrest, the Maharashtra government suspended Sanjeev Palande, an additional collector-rank officer, who was personal secretary to former state home minister Anil Deshmukh, in connection with a corruption case.
Elections to local governing bodies can be held now with OBC quota in Maharashtra, with the Supreme Court giving its nod on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in Mumbai.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said its division bench (comprising two judges), instead of a single-judge bench, would hear the petition filed by Maharashtra's former home minister Anil Deshmukh against the summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.
Parth Pawar, who was publicly censured by the NCP patriarch recently for seeking a CBI probe into the case of Rajput's death, tweeted the remark, which means truth shall prevail, without making any reference to the case.
The Nationalist Congress Party has claimed all the 28 Congress corporators in Malegaon city in Maharashtra's Nashik district, including the mayor, crossed over to the party on Thursday.
Deshmukh filed his bail application through advocates Aniket Nikam and Inderpal Singh before the special CBI court judge S H Gwalani in the corruption case being probed by the CBI.
In a series of tweets, Malik, who has been targeting the Narcotics Control Bureau after it raided a cruise ship last month and claimed to have seized drugs onboard, posted a photograph of Amruta Fadnavis with an alleged drug peddler.
'The untimely demise of Shri Cyrus Mistry is shocking. He was a promising business leader who believed in India's economic prowess,' Prime Minister Modi said in a tweet.