Former Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, whose suspension from Congress was revoked recently, was today inducted into the over two-month-old Ashok Chavan led Congress-NCP ministry.
The Maharashtra government, reeling under criticism over handling of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, has received another jolt with the widow of former Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare saying the state police force is ill-equipped to fight terrorists.
"Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, during his recent visit to New Delhi, met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and proposed the separate force of marine police to guard the coastal area of the state," Additional Chief Secretary of Home Department, Chandra Iyengar said on Tuesday.
Maharashtra, which has witnessed a number of terror attacks with the latest being on Mumbai, has demanded constitution of a Central Coastal Security Authority.
Amid reports of some states reacting adversely to the 'tone and language' of a letter sent by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on enhancing security in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, the Maharashtra government has said that it would promptly act on his suggestions."We welcome the steps suggested by the Union Home Minister. In fact, we have already started acting on the letter dated December 17," a senior government official said.
The Maharashtra government will set up a special court in consultation with the chief justice of Bombay High Court, to try cases related to the Mumbai terror attack, state Home Minister Jayant Patil said on Wednesday.Patil also said that the chargesheet against perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks will be filed within seven days. Advocate Ujwal Nikam, who shot to fame during the 1993 serial blasts trial, has been appointed as special public prosecutor in the case.
He targeted the BJP, saying it gave the option to Opposition to either join them or go to jail.
"MSC Chitra has tilted 80 degrees and the total oil spill is nearly 50 tons, Arun Singh, Commandant (Operations), Coast Guard told PTI.
"This incident is really unfortunate. I feel there was total negligence on part of those who admitted her to the hospital and negligence on part of the hospital," the chief minister, who discussed the issue with senior health officials in Mumbai on Monday night, said.
The Maharashtra government has decided to approach the Supreme Court after the Bombay high court struck down the 'best of five' system for admissions in Class XI on the ground that it was discriminatory.
Speaking at a book release function on Wednesday in Mumbai, Thackeray said that it was Bhatt who had given false and misleading information to Chief Minister Ashok Chavan that lead to the filing of FIR against his party men. "I will show Mahesh Bhatt who I am the day he comes in my range," said Thackeray.
It was Rahul Gandhi's day out in Mumbai as he hopped out on to a local train and mingled with the people of Mumbai. Rahul's little detour send turned out to be a nightmare for Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who set alarm bells ringing all the way to Delhi and forced Sonia Gandhi out of the Congress Working Committee meeting, being held at 24 Akbar Road.
Rattled by the electoral debacle, the Congress is seriously considering replacing chief ministers of Maharashtra, Assam and Haryana in a major shake-up ahead of assembly elections.
Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane on Friday lashed out at the Congress leadership, after state Industry Minister Ashok Chavan beat him to the chief minister's post."Chavan cannot handle even his ministry. He can't be my competitor for the CM's post, he said, adding that he was opting out of the chief ministerial race.Rane, a well-known detractor of former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, also accused the Congress high command of reneging on its promise.
The Maharashtra government can do little beyond using its good offices to pursue the Bajaj Auto management to revive production at its mother plant in Akurdi, near Pune.
Ahead of the Mumbai meeting, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said that a few more political parties were likely to join the opposition INDIA during its upcoming meeting.
The NCP's chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said Walse Patil was appointed as pro-tem Speaker with Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's consent. The session too was convened after Koshyari's approval, he said. "They wanted some excuse to run away, that's why all this (ruckus). Devendra ji (BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis) should take lessons from (senior BJP leader Eknath) Khadse on how an opposition leader should work," Malik said.
NCP MLAs have been moved to Hotel Grand Hyatt in Santacruz and Sofitel in Bandra-Kurla Complex
Travelling at a speed of 300 km per hour on the Mumbai-Pune-Nagpur route may not be a distant dream for train commuters as a pre-feasibility report submitted to Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has said it is a viable proposition.
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
PWD Minister Ashok Chavan later told reporters that the application was filed on Monday morning and added the counsels representing the government will try to see that the hearing on the application takes place soon.
Three MLAs abstained, while 20 legislators, most of them from Congress and the NCP, including Congress's Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar, both former ministers, were absent during the trust vote.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Tuesday announced a Rs 6,200 crore (Rs 62 billion) farm loan waiver for the 4 million farmers in the state who were not covered by the central governments Rs 71,000 crore (Rs 710 billion) farm loan waiver announced earlier this year.
Suspended Congress leader Narayan Rane on Saturday claimed that he holds the key to the survival of the soon-to-be-formed Ashok Chavan led Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra.Rane refused to divulge his future course of action when the winter session of the legislature would be convened in Nagpur this month.He said he could provide a letter of 30 MLAs to the Governor, saying that they were not supporting the new government.
The much-hyped 'clean chit' to Congress leader Ashok Chavan is particularly embarrassing as the party had been forced to sack him after the Adarsh scam surfaced, says Anita Katyal
Congress leaders from Maharashtra Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan and Pradesh Congress Committee chief Balasaheb Thorat attended the meeting along with the top brass of the party, including Ahmed Patel.
Thorat, 66, has been a farmers' leader and has been involved in the cooperative movement in Maharashtra. He is also a former revenue minister
However, the famous Sai Baba temple in the town will remain open, its trustees said on Saturday.
Saamna said Fadnavis' remarks on his return were funny and cautioned that he "should not forget that Eknath Shinde is the Chief Minister".
"If Gadkari decides to build the bridge between the BJP and the Shiv Sena, he can approach Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and request him," Sattar said.
Acting on the Supreme Court's order, the Army has begun the process of taking over the possession of the scam-tainted Adarsh building at Colaba in South Mumbai.
Thackeray said people should be aware of how religious issues are raked up to distract their attention from core issues.
The blame game has started in Maharashtra Congress over the party's unprecedented defeat in the state.
The COVID-19 tally in Maharashtra till Wednesday night stood at 25,922 and the number of fatalities at 975, with Mumbai alone accounting for 15,747 cases and 596 deaths.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday held parleys with the chief ministers of Maharashtra and Haryana amidst the possibility of a change of guard in some of the states where it is in power as the party prepares for a massive rejig in the wake of its unprecedented debacle in Lok Sabha polls.
His father Somappa Rayappa Bommai was the state chief minister during 1988-1989.
In the second such exercise in four days, the Prithviraj Chavan led Congress-Nationalist Congress Party ministry in Maharashtra was expanded on Monday with the induction of two Congress ministers.
It said the Congress will infuse new blood in leadership roles without creating new fault lines and cementing its ideological moorings.
Ahead of the crucial third round of discussions, the opposition INDIA bloc on Wednesday exuded confidence that it would provide a formidable alternative to bring political change in the country and asserted that it has several prime ministerial faces against BJP's only one.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances