He furnished an undertaking before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan pursuant to a March 14 order by the apex court.
A day before the assembly poll results, the Congress on Friday appointed observers for Maharashtra and Jharkhand to oversee the post-election scenarios.
"The Congress is on cloud nine after a little success of the United Progressive Alliance government. It was achieved not on its own but with the help of its alliance partners. As a result, they are trying to create a leadership like Indira Gandhi with all the powers centred around one person," said an editorial in Marathi 'Congresscha Nakli Atmavishwas aani Agami Nivadnuka' (The fake confidence of Congress and the forthcoming elections) in NCP's mouthpiece Rashtrawadi.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday sought to downplay the abuses hurled against him by Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi, saying he treated the matter as a closed chapter. "There is no need to speak anything more on this matter. I think there is no need to give much importance to the matter. The Congress party has taken a decision on this as the remarks were not in good taste. For me the chapter is closed," said the agriculture minister.
Apart from renominating 26 sitting MLAs, including ministers who sided with Ajit Pawar when he joined the ruling camp, the NCP has also fielded sitting legislators Sulbha Khodke (Amravati) and Hiraman Khoskar (Igatpuri) who switched over from the Congress recently.
The Sena also said the BJP leaders are creating sounds of empty vessels over the issue of who will become the Mumbai mayor.
'Life in India is better only for those who have reservations.'
Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who is a part of India's diplomatic mission abroad, on Monday said it is 'distressing' that people back home are calculating political allegiances and asked if it is 'so difficult to be patriotic'.
Amid strains in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi alliance over Rahul Gandhi's strident criticism of V D Savarkar, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has stepped in to play the peacemaker by conveying the Shiv Sena's concerns on the issue to the Congress leadership.
The clock on the ceasefire is running out. But everyone's already whispering about round two, possibly as soon as this weekend.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said a decision on whether to oppose the Centre's ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi would be taken before the Parliament session.
Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik faces criticism after Rapido, the bike taxi aggregator he exposed for illegal operations, became the lead sponsor for a 'Dahi Handi' event organized by his family.
Stepping up the heat on Justice Yashwant Varma, parliamentarians on Monday submitted notices to the presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha for the removal of the Allahabad high court judge from whose residence in New Delhi burnt wads of currency notes were found.
Ajit Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party, which is in an alliance with pro-Hindutva BJP and the Shiv Sena, noted Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh) and Nitish Kumar (Bihar) -- all secular politicians -- aligned with the BJP for the sake of development of their respective states.
The Congress swept away the elections for Nanded Municipal Corporation of the state by winning 41 out of the total 81 seats. The Congress, which shares power with Nationalist Congress Party at the state level, went alone in elections to the 81-member Nanded Municipal Corporation, held on Sunday.
The action comes a day after Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government as deputy chief minister along with eight other NCP MLAs who were inducted as ministers. Tatkare's daughter Aditi was among the ministers who took oath on Sunday.
The Congress on Wednesday night denounced as "most mischievous, highly motivated and perverse" the editorial in the Nationalist Congress Party mouthpiece calling Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi arrogant.
He further said that he believes Ajit Pawar will play a key role as a "kingmaker" after the elections.
Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine's bid to wrest control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Friday appeared coming to a naught with the country's richest civic body's ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance set to emerge as the largest bloc.
Ahead of assembly polls in Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of merger with Congress, terming as "cheap publicity" statements in this regard made by that party.
Haryana Congress chief Bhajan Lal said Umed Singh Kashyap's presence in the party will boost its prospects in the forthcoming Lok Sabha and state assembly elections.
The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday sought to downplay the controversy that kicked up after "mischievous" remarks were made about Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the NCP-supported magazine Rashtravadi.
However, the national party count has gone down to six from 14 in over seven decades.
A day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar announced his decision to step down as the political outfit's chief, he stuck to his daily routine of meeting people including party functionaries in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Friday said that the defeat of its coalition partner Congress in the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh show that the party was ignorant of ground realities.Stating that national politics cannot move forward without the NCP, Pawar said that it was an important party. In Gujarat, the NCP had won three seats. "With this, the party has made its presence felt in 11 assemblies," he said.
Congress has no plans to follow suit in the wake of its ruling coalition partner in Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party on Friday taking the resignation of its 20 ministers in the state to go for a reshuffle in the party as well as the government.
The Congress has also asked the prime minister's office to co-ordinate better with various ministries over the issue of inflation.
Skirting the issue of a pre-poll alliance with Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday kicked off her party's campaign for the October 13 Maharashtra assembly polls, with a call to workers to reach out to the people with renewed vigour.Sonia reaffirmed her party's irrevocable commitment to protecting the interests of the 'aam admi', which was the focus of the Congress' policies and programmes.
Now, the state has an unprecedented situation where there are six major political players with three on each side.
The Sonia Gandhi-led party is a constituent of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition in the state, which is led by the Shiv Sena and also comprises the NCP.
Pawar was amenable to increasing the height of the boundary walls of his house in Delhi as part of the enhanced security measures.
Confirming the development, Leader of Opposition in the legislative council Ambadas Danve of the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray said the boycott is a mark of protest against a "dishonest government".
A social media influencer's video promoting communal harmony, featuring the purchase of a Ganesh idol from a Muslim seller, has sparked controversy, leading to its deletion and an apology from the creator.
'The writing is on the wall for both Shinde and Ajit Pawar.'
"We have not even thought about merger. It is not on the cards," he said, complaining that the statements he issued after his recent trip to Delhi were misreported or misinterpreted.
Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday said all the party rebels contesting against the official candidates of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have been suspended for six years.
Speculation is rife in political circles over the past few days that he is likely to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
It is unfortunate that the Congress has taken a decision of contesting the elections in alliance with the JMM without even consulting allies in the UPA government, he said.
