'The Maharashtra government is not being very clear; they are keeping quiet.'
"When he was state BJP chief, all was well. There is nothing earth-shaking in the comment. Those who want to come with us can join and become future colleagues. Don't read too much into this," Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said.
Rane's tour is being seen a major show of strength by the BJP ahead of the crucial BMC polls, due early next year.
The Shiv Sena, an ex-BJP ally which has been a strong supporter of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, congratulated the people of the country over the long-awaited foundation stone laying ceremony for the grand temple.
First-time Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Rahul Narvekar on Friday filed his nomination as the party candidate for the post of Maharashtra assembly speaker, election for which, if required, will be held on July 3.
Replying to an Opposition sponsored debate on various issues facing the state on the last day of the monsoon session, the chief minister said he has been often described as a "contract CM" by his opponents.
The clash broke out on Saturday night in the sensitive Old City area of Akola over a religious post which went viral on a social media platform, a senior police official earlier said.
'There is no hard evidence, but our MLAs have been getting calls from industrialists and mining mafia in the state to quit the Congress and join the BJP.'
Uddhav Thackeray dared PM Modi to fulfil Savarkar's dream of "akhand Bharat"
The probe agency, while seeking Patkar's custody, also told the court that an offence of such magnitude was not possible without the "explicit complicity of senior functionaries" of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Sujay Vikhe Patil, son of senior Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, joined the BJP in presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Raosaheb Danve.
In other India-related news, Manish Kaurav (KL3 men 200m) and Manjeet Singh (VL2 men 200m) made it to the finals of their respective events for the first time in the history of the tournament.
Chhagan Bhujbal, Jayant Patil (both from the NCP), Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut (both from the Congress), Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai (both from the Sena) took oath as ministers along with Thackeray.
The meeting will be held in Shiv Sena Bhavan in which the chief minister will join virtually.
In its party mouthpiece 'Saamana', the Sena said, "The Congress has opposed the proposal of renaming Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar. It has made the BJP happy. But the Congress's opposition to the proposal is not new and therefore, linking it to the MVA government is foolishness."
Patole, the MLA from Sakoli in Bhandara district, had resigned as speaker of Maharashtra assembly on Thursday.
'Eknath Shinde and 40 other traitors have become slaves of Delhi (Centre) to finish off the Shiv Sena'
Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Jayant Patil said, "On May 29, the government will be holding a meeting to review the lockdown in the state. During this meeting, the decision will be taken on which areas should be given more relaxations. However, there will be no relaxations in the areas where the maximum number of cases are being reported."
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has once again knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Maharashtra assembly speaker to expeditiously adjudicate the disqualification petitions filed against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and other Sena MLAs, who had tied up with the Bharatiya Janata Party to form a new government in June 2022, in a time-bound manner.
The contrast between the two meetings couldn't have been more stark, yet, both were organically linked, the latter a show of support for the former.
The Sena and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray labelled each other gaddar (traitor) after Shinde's rebellion split their original party last year, while Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis publicly asserted he had exacted revenge on Thackeray for his betrayal.
Thackeray accused the Eknath Shinde-led government of being ideologically bankrupt.
However, the AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the SC committee has limited terms of reference and 'cannot bring out the deep nexus between' the prime minister and the billionaire businessman.
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.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has recognised Rahul Shewale as the Shiv Sena leader in the Lower House of Parliament.
While Fadnavis has admitted that the letter was sent to him in good faith, he said that he would have to discuss with the party leadership before taking a decision.
The then disqualified Congress-JDS MLAs who had shifted loyalty to the BJP and won the December by-elections, were sworn-in at a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan with Governor Vajubhai Vala admistering oath of office and secrecy.
'Please do not threaten us with street violence.' 'Do you have some humanity left in you?'
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said the Supreme Court's ruling on the political crisis that led to the fall of the three-party Maha Vikas Aaghadi government led by him following a revolt by the Eknath Shinde faction reinstates trust in democracy.
Modi knows that the BMC elections are critical for his party which has never won a majority in the city's 227 wards.
Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde, camping in Guwahati, has claimed that he has the support of 34 MLAs of his party and passed a resolution on Wednesday evening reinstating himself as the leader of the Shiv Sena legislative party, a day after he was removed from the post by the Sena leadership.
'Though the threat posed to Mumbai by the cyclone has reduced, the next few hours will be quite crucial. The cyclone can have influence over an average of 200 km from its eye,' Thorat tweeted.
Suggesting an alliance with ruling Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress in Maharashtra, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Imtiaz Jaleel has said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) can become a 'comfortable car' from the three-wheeled autorickshaw which can prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party from coming to power.
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.
The Maratha community should get reservation, but it should be done without disturbing the existing quota of other communities, the senior Nationalist Congress Party leader said.
A 36-year-old conman, who allegedly duped Congress Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Vijay Darda of Rs 34 lakh by posing as former Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat, has been arrested, police said on Friday. The accused, Digambar alias Balasaheb Khaire Patil, was arrested from Solapur.
Narvekar, who polled 164 votes, defeated Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi who got 107 votes.
Thackeray held talks with Thorat, former chief minister Ashok Chavan and another senior Congress leader, Manikrao Thakare, at a suburban hotel.
Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar on Thursday said his recent meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray focused on how to expedite development programmes of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and maintained nothing else should be deciphered from it.
Fadnavis and his entourage, which included several senior BJP leaders, moved on without reacting to the jeers.
