Parties in Maharashtra are engaged in intense negotiations to finalize seat sharing arrangements for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections scheduled for January 15.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party's attempt to form a government with his nephew and Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar had one benefit, as it ended President's rule in Maharashtra in 2019.
"If anyone did suggest that we should support the BJP contrary to the stand we had taken, (even) then many in the party including me did not agree with that (suggestion). Our stand not to go with the BJP was very clear," Sharad Pawar said.
Sule said the intra-family duel in the Lok Sabha polls will not waver her respect for Sunetra Pawar as she is her "elder brother's wife and like a mother".
Campaigning for the elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra has ended, with the battle for Mumbai's BMC taking center stage. Key political players are vying for control, with a focus on Marathi and Hindu voters.
'I am 84 years old. What have you seen? I have not become old.'
Soon after being removed as Nationalist Congress Party working president, Praful Patel on Monday evening announced the appointment of Lok Sabha MP Sunil Tatkare as the party's state unit chief , replacing Jayant Patil, and Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar as its legislature wing leader.
Friendship with Ajit Pawar and the eventual destruction of the NCP can only strengthen him and the BJP.
Amid the relentless clamour by the Opposition for Ajit Pawar's resignation over his controversial remark on drought, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said the matter should have ended with an apology by the Maharashtra deputy chief minister. "The matter should have ended with the apology," Pawar told reporters.
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.
Shiv Sena Minister Bharat Gogawale's son, Vikas Gogawale, surrendered to police in connection with the Mahad poll violence case after the Bombay High Court criticized the Maharashtra government's inaction.
Maharashtra heads to the polls for 29 municipal corporations, with Mumbai's BMC election taking center stage as the BJP-led Mahayuti faces off against the Thackeray front. Key issues include promises for women, pollution control, and the city's financial health.
Addressing a press conference in Satara, Sharad Pawar also said he has launched a statewide tour to strengthen the NCP and boost the confidence of party workers, unfazed by actions of a few leaders.
Residents of Ahmedabad recall the Air India crash of June 2025 after news of the Baramati plane crash involving Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar. The earlier tragedy, which killed hundreds, remains a painful memory for those who witnessed it and lost loved ones.
Speaking to reporters in Maharashtra's Pune city, Rohit Pawar said he is firmly with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for January 21 on pleas challenging the Election Commission's decision to allot the 'bow and arrow' symbol to the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena. The court will also hear arguments on a similar dispute concerning the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on January 22.
Ajit Pawar asked in his speech at his faction's meeting when would Sharad Pawar, who is 82 years old, "going to stop".
The Congress party has suspended 12 newly-elected councillors in Maharashtra's Ambernath Municipal Council and its block president for forming an alliance with the BJP after recent civic polls. The BJP, along with the Congress and NCP, secured a majority in the council, despite Shiv Sena being the single largest party.
'If the BJP had contested all 227 seats, I believe they would have managed to secure a majority on their own.'
Events from mid-2025 to early 2026 exposed deeper systemic concerns for India's aviation safety architecture.
In his lifetime, it was his prerogative to decide who should use his photograph, he said.
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.
Ajit Pawar's resignation from the post of the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra has brought to the fore the widening rift between him and Sharad Pawar, writes Sanjay Jog.
The Sharad Pawar faction quoted lines from a popular poem 'Tutari' written by Jnanpith awardee Kusumagraj.
Raut claimed Sharad Pawar recently told Uddhav Thackeray that his party will never join hands with the BJP.
While the BJP and Shiv Sena have announced a seat-sharing pact, another constituent of Mahayuti, the NCP, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, is contesting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls separately.
Is Deputy CM Ajit Pawar giving the CM shooting lessons?
The Devendra Fadnavis-Ajit Pawar government formed in a hush-hush ceremony in November 2019 after the state assembly elections had lasted for three days.
The respect for the four-time former chief minister, often referred to as Saheb, in his stronghold of western Maharashtra is palpable in much of the region. But his estranged nephew also appears to enjoy a stature of his own in Baramati, a constituency represented by the senior Pawar for six terms before he passed the baton to Ajit Pawar in 1991.
The crisis in Maharashtra government after Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's resignation is expected to draw to a close with the intervention of Union Agriculture Minister and NCP president Sharad Pawar on Friday.
As the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections gathers momentum, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, the leaders of two prominent regional parties in Maharashtra, are fighting a battle for political survival.
Pawar recalled that he was a member of a delegation sent by former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao to the UN under the leadership of BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
'Let Fadnavisji prove to the people of Maharashtra that he acts fairly against one and all.'
On Friday, Ajit caused a flutter in the party when he sent his resignation as the MLA from Baramati segment to Legislative Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade, which has been accepted.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday declined NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) president Sharad Pawar's invite for a meal at his residence in Baramati in Pune district on Saturday, citing a hectic schedule.
Glimpses of Home Minister Amit Shah's busy busy Sunday, crisscrossing India.
Sharad Pawar claimed that two individuals had met him in New Delhi before the 2024 Maharashtra assembly polls and 'guaranteed' the Opposition's victory in 160 of 288 constituencies.
Pawar made the announcement at the 25th anniversary of the party, founded by him and P A Sangma in 1999.
The Bombay High Court questioned the rule of law in Maharashtra, criticizing the Chief Minister's silence regarding a minister's son who is absconding after being named in a criminal case. The court was hearing a pre-arrest bail application related to a violent clash during municipal elections.
