The Centre has rejected the Maharashtra government's proposal to ban right wing group Abhinav Bharat, which is accused of carrying out the bomb attack at Malegaon in 2008. The decision has been taken by the home ministry after it came to the conclusion that the group has not been involved in any terrorist or anti-national activity in recent years.
In a new twist to the political crisis in Maharashtra that has risen from an irrigation scam, one of the whistleblowers has named Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari for trying to suppress it.
The list includes constituencies where the BJP came second or third in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and also some which the party has never won.
Hitting out at the Congress government headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he said the ruling party has reached "height of appeasement politics," and alleged that it has in a way made appeasement of minorities its "goal."
The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi supporters gheraoed Vinod Tawde and raised slogans.
The name of the Maharashtra chief minister will be announced on Wednesday, a day ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of the Mahayuti government, after the Bharatiya Janata Party elects its legislature party leader, a senior functionary said on Monday.
Speculation is rife in political circles over the past few days that he is likely to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
The Maharashtra Assembly elections are taking place today, with the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance seeking to retain power and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) hoping for a comeback. The campaign saw prominent leaders like Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra crisscrossing the state to garner votes. The Mahayuti is banking on popular schemes while the MVA focuses on issues like caste-based census and social justice. The elections have also seen a significant rise in the number of candidates and voters.
The mortal remains of Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde, who died in a road accident in Delhi, were flown to Mumbai on Tuesday evening.
Thackeray, considered a soft-spoken man vis-a-vis his aggressive father, took oath as the 18th chief minister under the tripartite alliance in November 2019, the first in his family to hold a public office.