In a bold move, Devendra Fadnavis-led Bharatiya Janata Party government has decided to downgrade security of top politicians of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party and their kin, including former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and his then deputy Ajit Pawar.
'I was never interested to work as Leader of Opposition but accepted the role on demand of the party MLAs'
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Thursday said his decision to step down from the post was taken for the future of the party and to create a new leadership.
Senior NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Wednesday said the Supreme Court order on the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) quota was a setback to the state government and it should do everything it can to save the community's reservation.
The NCP is in talks with its ally Congress for a possible alliance with the Shiv Sena, after the Sena's alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party fell apart over the chief minister's post.
Shinde also said directives will be issued to give the Kunbi caste certificates to blood relatives of a person who already possesses similar documents.
Elections to local governing bodies can be held now with OBC quota in Maharashtra, with the Supreme Court giving its nod on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in Mumbai.
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.
A host of high-profile personalities from the world of politics and business on Sunday paid homage to late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on his first death anniversary at the ShivajiPark grounds in Mumbai.
NCP president Sharad Pawar on Thursday said the fate of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra will be decided on the floor of the Legislative Assembly, and the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition will prove its majority in a trust vote.
A 65-year-old woman, allegedly set ablaze for not voting for a particular candidate in Yeola assembly constituency in Nashik district in October 15 polls, succumbed to her injuries while undergoing treatment at civil hospital in Nashik on Monday.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it will seek the help of RBI and SEBI to ensure that Mallya group of companies are not able to create third party rights to dispose of its stakes.
While arithmetic political stability is a reality, the end result of politics in Maharashtra is hard to predict.
Portfolios were distributed 2 weeks after the MVA govt was sworn-in. Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde will be home minister while NCP's Jayant Patil will be finance minister.
The former Maharashtra deputy chief minister refuted reports about his "revolt".
The piece also sought to know why Fadnavis did not once come forward to defend his colleague.
The Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar factions of the NCP will hold their meetings in Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in south Mumbai and Bhujbal Knowledge City in suburban Bandra, respectively.
Only 19 out of 41 ministers in the erstwhile Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra have vacated their official bungalows so far, whereas names of NCP stalwart Ajit Pawar and senior Congress leader Narayan Rane figure in the list of squatters, an RTI query has revealed.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and various other state ministers sat on a dharna in Mumbai on Thursday to protest against the arrest of their cabinet colleague Nawab Malik by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case.
Speaking to reporters in Pune, Pawar played down the buzz saying that he is not able to attend the NCP meeting as he has to remain present for some other programmes happening at the same time.
Sustained persuasion by his family members and senior Nationalist Congress Party leaders made the NCP leader quit as deputy chief minister.
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
Speaking at a rally at Shivaji Park in Mumbai on Saturday, Raj Thackeray had criticised Sharad Pawar, accusing him of 'playing the caste card from time to time and dividing society'.
Interacting with media persons in Mumbai after attending a meeting called by NCP president Sharad Pawar to discuss the issue, Patil maintained the party will not take Malik's resignation as the latter "was arrested in a wrong manner."
Members cutting across party lines demanded that an all-party delegation call on the prime minister to seek caste-wise census to determine the population of other backward classes.
'I want to warn Ajit dada and all those who have stabbed Pawar saheb by joining hands with the BJP.' 'Don't write saheb's obituaries so soon.'
Pawar made the announcement at the 25th anniversary of the party, founded by him and P A Sangma in 1999.
Following the alleged desecration of the Maratha king's statue, miscreants in Belagavi shouted slogans and pelted government vehicles with stones and freedom fighter Sangolli Rayanna's statue was subsequently vandalised.
With the Congress announcing its first list of candidates amid continuing stalemate over seat sharing for Maharashtra Assembly polls, the Nationalist Congress Party leadership has gone into a huddle to decide its future course of action.
Neeta Kolhatkar remembers the housewife who took on mighty Maharashtra politicians over her husband's murder.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar told reporters that his nephew Ajit deliberately made those remarks to avoid media.
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.
Fadnavis also reiterated that the three-party MVA dispensation will collapse under its own weight, and asserted that once that happens, his party would provide an alternative government in the state.
'Many resignation dramas are played out to make others realise one's importance, but Sharad Pawar would not play such petty games.'
Former Maharashtra home minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party leader R R Patil, 57, who was undergoing treatment for oral cancer passed away on Monday afternoon.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday after he sustained leg injury from a fall at his Delhi residence
'Eknath Shinde's credibility will not grow beyond Thane, Uddhav's credibility will rise across Maharashtra and perhaps in the rest of the country'
Prasanna D Zore reports on the backroom drama accompanying the efforts to cobble together the next government in Maharashtra. 'While the Congress is insisting upon equal power sharing structure among all the three parties, the NCP is of the opinion that ministries should be distributed based on the number of MLAs belonging to each of the three parties.' Prasanna D Zore reports on the backroom room accompanying the efforts to cobble together the next government in Maharashtra.
'He has a fierce will power; he has been a fighter all his life and even at this age his spirit is strong enough to take on any kind of adversity that comes his way.'
The conference was seen by many as a show of strength by the Opposition with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav joining in to raise their voice against oppression of backward classes.
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