Out of the 24 NCP MLAs who attended the session, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, cabinet ministers Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Aditi Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode, Dhananjay Munde, Anil Patil and Dharmarao Atram were seated on the ruling side.
Pankaja Munde of the BJP -- Dhananjay Munde's cousin -- has been made the guardian minister of Jalna district.
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.
The development assumes significance as Congress' ally Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar group) had named Jitendra Awhad as the new LoP in the assembly following a split in the party due to Ajit Pawar's rebellion last month.
However, Shiv Sena spokesperson and MLA Sanjay Shirsat on Tuesday claimed Ajit Pawar-led NCP joining the Sena-BJP government is as per a larger strategy ahead of the Lok Sabha and assembly polls scheduled next year.
The name of Devendra Fadnavis has been finalised as the new chief minister of Maharashtra who will be elected as the legislature party leader in a meeting to be held either on December 2 or 3, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader said on Sunday night.
When asked about Prahar Janshakti Party leader Bachhu Kadu's hunger strike, Fadnavis said district guardian minister Chandrashekar Bawankule will speak to him.
'It is everyone's desire and demand that Pawar saheb remains the NCP chief'
A total of 4,140 candidates were left in the fray for 288 Maharashtra assembly seats after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended on Monday, a poll official said.
Former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, who was shot dead in Mumbai, was a popular figure in Bollywood circles and had earned praise for supplying life-saving medicines to patients during the Covid pandemic.
Patil, Patel, Bhujbal, Awhad and their colleague Dilip Walse Patil in one voice said they will not accept Pawar's decision. A few party functionaries even tendered their resignations on the spot to put pressure on the 82-year-old politician, while some workers suggested that a working president be appointed.
State BJP minister Chandrakant Patil last week said Harshvardhan Patil will regret his decision to join the Pawar-led party.
A broad consensus has emerged among top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and other Mahayuti allies to drop ministers facing serious allegations of corruption in the new government, a Shiv Sena leader said on Tuesday.
The unexpected split in the Nationalist Congress Party set off a mini earthquake in not only Maharashtra politics but also sent aftershocks at a national level.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance on Saturday retained power in Maharashtra, pocketing a whopping 230 of the 288 assembly seats, as the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi's dream of wresting power fizzled, with the opposition combine managing to garner just 50 seats.
The BJP and Shiv Sena, which along with Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party comprise the ruling Mahayuti, for some time now have been courting Thackeray, who founded the MNS in 2006.
In a veiled attack on ally Congress in Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar on Sunday said the allegations of irregularities raised against him were aimed at diverting public attention from the coal-gate scam.
Pawar also announced a panel of senior party leaders to draw a future course of action. Party workers and leaders, however, demanded that Pawar withdraw his decision.
"There will be one in Delhi and the other in the state," Sule, the daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, said without elaborating.
A section of residents in and around Barsu have been opposing the proposed refinery as they fear the mega project will adversely affect the fragile biodiversity of the coastal Konkan region and also hit their livelihood.
More scenes from the National Democratic Alliance meeting at the Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi, July 18, 2023.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday said that resignation of his deputy Ajit Pawar from the state ministry will not affect the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party ties.
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar has said he is yet to ascertain whether the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is a part of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government or is still in the Opposition.
'Ajit Pawar wants to escape from the clutches of the investigative agencies.'
The Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, will decide whether only the chief minister and deputy CMs will take the oath of office on December 5, or whether ministers will also be sworn in. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for the evening at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending. While BJP sources have indicated that Devendra Fadnavis is the frontrunner for the chief minister's post, the BJP legislature party leader is yet to be appointed. NCP chief Ajit Pawar has stated that the chief minister will be from the BJP, with deputy CMs from the Shiv Sena and NCP. The Mahayuti alliance secured a landslide victory in the assembly elections, winning 230 seats out of 288. The government formation has been delayed due to disagreements on the chief minister's position.
NCP president Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said members of the women's wing of the party should take to the streets if a Manipur-like instance happens, without worrying about the registration of cases against them.
Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said the Maharashtra government should hold a dialogue with local villagers who are opposing a refinery project in the coastal Ratnagiri district.
The strains are telling as old friends and new enemies face each other in the battlefield.
The crisis in Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition government in Maharashtra, triggered by the surprise resignation of Ajit Pawar, on Friday blew over with party chief
The firing took place outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddiqui's office.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday reaffirmed his party's support to Congress at the Centre and in Maharashtra, where a crisis has erupted in the wake of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's resignation.
'The timing of the current episode involving Ajit Pawar is important. The episode has elements of deceit, betrayal and falsehood intertwined'
The meeting came days after Shinde denied that his Shiv Sena MLAs were uncomfortable with the inclusion of Ajit Pawar and 8 NCP leaders.
Shrikant Pangarkar, an accused in the 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, which outraged the nation, joined Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena in Jalna ahead of assembly polls.
The preferred format would be for the top BJP leadership in the government to reach out to the alliance leaders on a case-to-case basis.
Days after Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar joined the Maharashtra government, the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Wednesday claimed that only alleged economic offenders Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya were left to be inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party.
'With one fell swoop he (Sharad Pawar) won the sympathies of the NCP workers at the grassroots, his own flock of MLAs and bolstered his position as the NCP chief'
Thackeray also condemned the collapse of a girder of an overbridge which was being constructed on a section of the Mumbai-Goa highway in Chiplun city on Monday.
Maharashtra state unit Nationalist Congress Party chief Sunil Tatkare said on Sunday that the NCP would contest upcoming the state assembly elections with the Congress party.
'Many resignation dramas are played out to make others realise one's importance, but Sharad Pawar would not play such petty games.'
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