Hundreds of party workers started assembling at Shiv Sena Bhavan as news of Shinde's rebellion broke in the morning, with the numbers swelling by the hour, most of them irate over the challenge thrown at Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
If the alliance is sealed, the MNS may be given one seat to contest from Mumbai, the Maharashtra capital where his cousin Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction enjoys some influence.
Shiv Sena leader and former MP Rahul Shewale said around 2 lakh people are expected to attend the rally at Azad Maidan to hear the CM.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi tells Rediff.com's Savera R Someshwar he is shocked that the Marathi Manoos, for whom Balasaheb Thackeray did so much, are raising objections to a samadhi to the Shiv Sena patriarch at Mumbai's Shivaji Park.
Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde wondered whether Indira Gandhi was also anti-Constitution as she had praised Savarkar as a "remarkable son of India".
Shinde also said a party grows when leaders reach out to the grassroot worker rather than sitting at home.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Abhishek Ghosalkar was shot dead during a Facebook live by local social activist Mauris Noronha in Mumbai on Thursday, police said.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut on Friday took a dig at Shiv Sena chief and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and claimed a rift in the latter's party, saying Maharashtra will have a third deputy chief minister from the fold.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday did not attend the public meeting addressed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Maharashtra's Sangli district, where the latter also unveiled the statue of late Maharashtra minister Patangrao Kadam.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday said officials responsible for registering documents should have refused to process agreements that were not permissible under the law and clearly informed the parties concerned about such limitations.
It will be the first major electoral contest in the state after Shinde's rebellion brought down the previous Maharashtra government led by Uddhav Thackeray in June this year.
"The 40 MLAs betrayed Uddhav. How can they remain true to the people and the state?" Aaditya asked.
It will be the first assembly byelection after the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra in June, making it a litmus test of his faction's hold over the Sena's vote bank in Mumbai.
Discordant voices emerged on Sunday from the Mahayuti even as the alliance continued to remain in the throes of government formation more than week after it swept the Maharashtra assembly polls.
As news of Bal Thackeray's health turning critical emerged, Rediff.com's Abhishek Mande witnessed contrasting scenes outside Matoshree, the residence of the Shiv Sena chief, and the Shiv Sena Bhavan.
The speaker had, in an order on January 10, declared the Shiv Sena bloc led by Shinde as the 'real political party' after its split in June 2022.
Shinde said MLAs are keen on continuing the Sena founded by late Balasaheb Thackeray.
As suspense over who will become the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra continues, Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Sunday backed his party's chief, Ajit Pawar, for the top post.
'Crores of rupees have been spent on paper but nothing has actually happened on the ground.'
The Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday posted a video on X showing checking of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' bags, and said merely holding the Constitution for 'show' is not enough and one must also follow the constitutional system.
Without naming the BJP, Raut said those who want to grab power can do so but the future will belong to Shiv Sena.
The incident took place around 12:20pm on the arterial LBS Road in front of Johnson and Johnson factory in Mulund area.
Is a sulking Eknath Shinde on the way out as Shiv Sena chief?
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Monday said it will be easier for them to get permission for their annual Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park in Mumbai, after the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde got nod to hold a rally in the Bandra Kurla Complex.
There is a growing unease among Lok Sabha ticket aspirants in the Shiv Sena amid its decision to drop three sitting MPs and the ongoing seat-sharing talks between the Mahayuti partners, party sources said.
According to insiders, "talks are on" between the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena at "an exploratory level".
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Rahul Narwekar was on Monday elected unopposed as the speaker of the 15th Maharashtra legislative assembly.
I was lucky to be born to the family of Balasaheb Thackeray, Uddhav said.
In a veiled attack on MNS president and his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray, the chief minister said he does not pay attention to 'new players' of Hindutva.
Maha Vikas Aghadi constituents -- the Congress, the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, and the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar -- are still struggling to resolve internal differences over certain seats and fix an agreeable formula for the assembly polls even though the deadline for filing nominations is closing on October 29.
He targeted the BJP, saying it gave the option to Opposition to either join them or go to jail.
Nationalist Congress Party considers Sunetra Pawar, wife of the late Ajit Pawar, for the position of NCP legislature leader, emphasizing the importance of family consent in the decision-making process.
Even as the two parties appeared confident that they have reached out to every voter and publicised their new symbols, experts suggested varying impact of the split and the symbols on the vote bank.
Thackeray said let there be elections to make it clear whether people support him on the rebel faction.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, who parted ways with the Shiv Sena in January 2006, on Monday said he was willing to "walk a hundred steps" for his uncle Balasaheb Thackeray and added that the doors of his party were always open for the Sena founder.
The chief minister, accompanied by his wife and sons Aaditya Thackeray and Tejas Thackeray, visited the Shiv Sena founder's 'smritisthal' (makeshift memorial) at the Shivaji Park in Dadar area in Mumbai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said he was proud of the manner in which the multi-party delegations presented India's views in various countries on the need to eradicate the menace of terrorism following the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor.
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."
The government has moved to increase the strength of the joint committee of Parliament that will scrutinise the two bills proposing simultaneous elections from 31 MPs to 39, giving representation to more parties.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government while raising doubts on its longevity, saying that he has doubts in his mind about whether the Union government will survive after 2026 or not.
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