Meanwhile, Maharashtra Congress leaders met party chief Sonia Gandhi amid talks in state political circle about possibility of the Shiv Sena forming government in Maharashtra backed by opposition parties.
Healthcare workers at the frontline of India's COVID-19 battle got their first jabs after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the world's biggest drive via video conferencing.
Shortage of ICU beds, oxygen, ventilators, vaccines, doctors, nurses and crematorium space in India has dominated headlines around the world in the past few weeks with Covid-19 cases surging beyond control and the government failing to deliver. Yes, election rallies, Kumbh Mela, blatant flouting of social distancing and mask protocols coupled with a messy vaccination process are said to be responsible for the health crisis of colossal proportions that India is facing today. But an analysis of Budget speeches made by finance ministers over 75 years also offers a glimpse of how low on the priority list healthcare has featured for the political class and policy-makers, which is a significant reason for the current situation.
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NCP spokesperson and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik said that AICC general secretary H K Patil was told about this scheduled meeting when he and other Congress leaders met Pawar in Mumbai recently.
A faction of Congress believes that that decision of the NCP benefitted the BJP which won 122 seats and staked a claim for power.
The two senior most leaders of the Communist Party of India-Marxist are at the loggerhead over alliance or adjustment with the Congress.
The Centre has warned it is likely that the spread of the new variant will outpace the Delta variant where there is community transmission.
Azad was elected to the Upper House from Jammu and Kashmir, which does not have an assembly currently after it was made a Union Territory with the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar told reporters that his nephew Ajit deliberately made those remarks to avoid media.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has denied allegations it was trying to wean away MLAs from other parties.
As per the final tally, of the total 81 seats, the Congress won 73, followed by the BJP which bagged six seats. The Shiv Sena just about managed to open its account with one seat, and an independent candidate won one seat.
Union Minister Salman Khurshid on Saturday said the Congress could consider extending support to the Third Front or taking its help, if necessary to form the government at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls.
'Fixing accountability in the Congress must be addressed on a war footing.' 'It is impossible for Sonia Gandhi to know each and every party worker, so she has to rely on advisors.' 'If they guide or misguide, the blame should go to them.'
If the BJP goes ahead with the idea of forming a minority government without the Shiv Sena like in 2014, the NCP is less likely to support the BJP in any way.
'That would be very bad for them and suicidal for both the Gandhis and the Congress party.'
Chandu Chavan's family said as he is now released, the ashes of his grandmother can finally be immersed in a river.
As his one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi drew intense interest in political circles, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said there was nothing wrong in having such interaction, adding snarkily that he had not gone to meet Pakistani leader Nawaz Sharif.
A group of 10-15 men armed with swords, iron rods and glass bottles reached the residence on motorcycles and attacked the congregation
The Congress has a feeling that the state leadership is being left out.
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'They are trying to lure our MLAs and that is why we are taking precautions.'
NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Congress leaders and former chief ministers Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj and former speakers Dilip Walse Patil (NCP) and Haribhau Bagade of the Bharatiya Janata Party were among the members to take oath early.
'We are expecting lower levels in the week beginning March 1.'
Once the two parties finalise the common minimum programme, it would then be shared with the Shiv Sena which is then expected to add issues that are close to its heart, reports Prasanna D Zore.
The state has total 8,98,39,600 voters, including 1,06,76,013 in the age group of 18 to 25 years. A total of 6.5 lakh polling personnel have been deployed at 96,661 polling booths across the state.
Thanking voters for yet again reposing faith in his party in the municipal elections, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Saturday said the poll results have shown that Mumbai cannot be separated from Maharashtra.
'The Shiv Sena as a party was going nowhere.' 'Now Uddhav Thackeray has shown his partymen that he can take the BJP head on.'
Indulging in religious conversion with inducement or under pressure is an "unpardonable offence", the state home minister Araga Jnanendra said adding, it may also lead to disturbance of peace in the society.
Deora, while campaigning in Zaveri Bazar area on April 4, had made an appeal to the Jain community to not vote for the Shiv Sena as it had hurt their religious sentiments earlier.
"If we had the numbers, we wouldn't have waited for anyone. The Congress and the NCP didn't cross the 100 mark...we will work as a responsible opposition," Pawar said.
The highlight of the five-hour meeting, which ended with a plan to hold a 'chintan shivir' at the earliest opportunity to chalk the Congress' future strategy, was a demand by Sonia Gandhi's loyalists that Rahul Gandhi should assume the party leadership again.
'I told Rahul: "You have to become president. Taalne se nahin hoga (you can't avoid the responsibility any longer)".' 'Rahul said: "I will think about it".'
The police do not have it in them to confront the Hindutva groups in a country ruled by a Hindutva party. No wonder Munawar Faruqui feels this is the end for him, asserts Jyoti Punwani.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has pleaded ignorance about claims made by rebel state minister Narayan Rane regarding assurance of chief ministership by the Congress when he left Shiv Sena nine years ago.
With this service, the journey on the 11.4 km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar stretch will reduce to 20 minutes
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.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday termed as "unfortunate" Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's decision to boycott Prime Minister Narendra Modi's programme in Nagpur and said Congress should introspect why people are "unhappy" with the state leadership.
However, the famous Sai Baba temple in the town will remain open, its trustees said on Saturday.
The Congress has remained ambivalent on the issue of giving tickets to tainted leaders like former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, who shared the dais with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi at an event on Wednesday, and former chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Suresh Kalmadi in the Lok Sabha polls.
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