As the Centre pushes reforms in the power sector, especially for the beleaguered electricity distribution segment, several states, especially those ruled by Opposition parties, are clamouring against it. Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerela have voiced their reservations against the proposed amendments to the Electricity Act, 2003. The irony is the states opposing the amendments on the ground of threat of privatisation already have private partnerships in power supply. The proposed Bill was slated to be placed on the floor of Parliament in the Monsoon session. But it still awaits Cabinet approval amid several states complaining that they have been not consulted on the issue.
Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said the BJP-led government needs to seriously think about the path it wants to take on the issue in the 150th year of Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.
With Pawar backing farmers' protest against the contentious agri reforms, government sources on Sunday pointed out that as the agriculture minister in the UPA dispensation he had asked chief ministers to amend the APMC Act in their states to allow the private sector to play an important role in the field.
Hazare began his fast on January 30 at his native Ralegan Siddhi village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, demanding appointment of anti-corruption watchdogs at the Centre and in Maharashtra and resolution of farmers' issues.
As the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena refused to blink, the opposition, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party are keen to take the benefit, reports Sanjay Jog.
Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan claimed that Modi held 13 pre-Budget consultation meetings which were attended by top industrialists, but to none of these meetings Sitharaman was invited.
The latest setback for the 20-year-old party came at a time when its top leadership is in talks with the Congress to finalise seat-sharing for the 288-member assembly.
The Sena had said last January that it would go it alone in all future elections.
"I am not leaving the party. Defection is not in my blood," Pankaja told reporters.
The Shiv Sena passed a resolution not to align with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Pawar thanked the Shiv Sena and the Congress for backing him on the ED action issue.
The poll of polls brought out by the NDA gave the BJP and the Congress 66 and 14 seats respectively in Haryana, and 211 and 64 for the saffron alliance and the Congress-NCP in Maharashtra.
Owaisi said the CBI should appeal against the judgment "to protect its independence."
The elder son of party chief Uddhav Thackeray will become the first member of the clan ever to contest an election.
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal announced the decision to snap ties with the NDA on Saturday night, amid stepped up agitation by farmers in Punjab over the three legislations which were recently passed by Parliament amid Opposition protests.
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.
Thackeray said not a single tree leaf will be cut till further developments.
Munde, whose party is a key ally in the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government, has made the demand in a letter written to Thackeray on Monday.
Shah said the government was committed to ensure development in the country.
The youth were demanding right to quality education, provision of trained interpreters for deaf students and preventing fraudulent distribution of disability certificates to able-bodied individuals among others.
Voices of resentment resonated in the camps of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress criticising the choice of new faces by the leadership. Sena leaders have expressed disapproval over party seniors and former ministers not finding a place.
Sanjay Raut also claimed that his party would win 100 out of the total 124 seats it had contested.
All opposition parties should come together to get rid of the BJP-led NDA government to ensure "Modi-mukt Bharat", he said, reminding the audience of BJP's "Congress-mukt Bharat" slogan.
Thackeray would be taking over as chief minister more than a month after results of the Maharashtra Assembly elections were declared on October 24.
Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao gives sanction to the CBI to prosecute former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh scam case.
The move came at a time when deliberations between the Congress, the NCP and the Shiv Sena seemingly reached the final stage on Friday.
'The farmer is furious because the MP government is trying to crush their agitation violently.' 'Such actions will have nation-wide repercussions.' 'Why this drama (Shivraj Chouhan's fast) after violently crushing the farmers' agitation?' 'He should resign immediately.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi a 'formidable enemy' who 'crushed' his opponents and vowed to send him to political oblivion by following the path of love and non-violence.
The MNS has convened a meeting of party office-bearers on Tuesday in Mumbai to discuss the issue.
JD-S leaders have already dropped enough hints about the party being open to such a possibility.
"As part of NDA, we look forward to joining forces with you in Maharashtra to help secure victory in upcoming Lok Sabha elections & beyond. @nitishkumar," Kishor tweeted while tagging JD-U president Nitish Kumar.
Shiv Sena said it will soon take a decision on its continuance in the BJP-led government in Maharashtra.
Pawar, who at 30 became the youngest chief minister of Maharashtra in 1978, will have to do a lot of heavy-lifting in the Maharashtra assembly polls, due by October, after severe setbacks in the Lok Sabha polls, reports Sunil Gatade.
Will numbers 1 to 8 in the BJP pull together so that it is a strong and formidable BJP which makes for a BJP-led NDA and not an NDA where the multiple docked tails are wagging the dog, asks Radha Rajan
BJP hit back at Thackeray's criticism of PM Modi over the poll rout in Delhi.
The NCP says its support from outside to the BJP government is without compromising its ideology. Sanjay Jog reports
A day after ending its 25-year-old alliance with Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday ruled out a post-poll tie-up with the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party after the October 15 Maharashtra assembly elections.
The ruling party seems in far better shape than the Congress, which is yet to finalise seat-sharing agreements in several states.
Shiv Sena said that the party has no intention to change its political line of contesting all future polls independently.
'For Modi and Shah, the humiliating setback is bigger than the electoral defeats in New Delhi and in Bihar in 2015.'
