At least half a dozen toll plazas were vandalised on Monday by suspected Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists in Thane after party chief Raj Thackeray asked workers not to pay toll tariff and "crush" the toll gates.
Nationalist Congress Party will announce candidates for the Lok Sabha elections on January 21 and will retain majority of the sitting MPs, the party said on Monday.
Putting up a brave face after its alliance in Maharashtra fell apart, the Congress on Friday targeted the Nationalist Congress Party alleging that it was trying to "get close" to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which was quick to rule out any truck with Sharad Pawar's party.
A year after storming to power in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party seems to have suffered a considerable erosion of support base in Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' home turf Vidarbha, losing to Congress-Nationalist Congress Party in the municipal council polls in the region.
Going solo in civic, local body elections won't impact coalition state government.
'When Irshad Khan approaches the Supreme Court, he will undoubtedly have the best and most committed of lawyers to represent him.' His case will be reported on the front pages.' Neither the BJP government in Rajasthan nor at the Centre can stop this,' says Jyoti Punwani.
Hitting back at Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh, who recently snubbed him for extending an "unsolicited support" to Narendra Modi and "seeking votes" in his name without joining the Shiv-Sena-BJP-RPI alliance, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Monday taunted Singh for raising the objection, while Modi was silent on the issue.
'The Congress should have accepted our demands.' 'Gone are the days when it could decide how many crumbs to throw at us.' 'Now, we make the demands.'
From politics to fashion, the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance remains intact. Prasanna D Zore reports
Pravin Gaikwad, the state coordinator of Maratha Kranti Morcha, has two rare qualities: he has an unparalleled connect with people from his community and, at the same time, underpins his ideology on a strong analytical base.
President's Rule can be revoked before the six-month period if a situation emerges for formation of a stable government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hit back at Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for accusing his government of not fulfilling poll promises, saying those seeking account of his performance in 4 months in power, have done little in the last 60 years.
According to an ED official, the arrest of the former Public Works Department minister was affected under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after he allegedly refused to cooperate during the questioning.
The Election Commission sent a notice to Mangal Prabhat Lodha, the BJP's Mumbai chief. This is probably because a leading newspaper highlighted his utterances on its front page.
The government told the HC that 'Maratha community comprises people belonging to various castes and since the country doesn't conduct caste-based census anymore,' it was proving rather 'difficult' to get hold of the requisite data.
The state government is worried that the agitation may pose a serious threat to it, reports Sanjay Jog.
Terming as a "scam of words" the charges against her, Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde, under fire for alleged irregularities in purchase of items worth Rs 206 crore, on Wednesday said that similar items were procured at a higher price during the previous Congress-Nationalist Congress Party rule.
'In UP, the CM actually announced that his administration would 'take revenge' against rioters.' 'That must have been music to his police force's ears for it substantiated what the police always do: Take revenge on an entire community for the violence of a few,' points out Jyoti Punwani.
A day before the Bharatiya Janata Party takes the reins in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena on Thursday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister-designate Devendra Fadnavis, saying the state can expect acchhe din (good days) under them, but cautioned its former ally against accepting Nationalist Congress Party's support.
A day after Devendra Fadnavis was anointed chief minister-designate of Maharashtra, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday went into a huddle with top party leaders to discuss the future course of action but there were no signs of the party being in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government for now.
In 2014, young Muslims became Owaisi fans. But five years of BJP rule and a weakening Opposition have drawn older Muslims too towards the AIMIM chief. Not enough, though.
However, it was Narendra Modi's 27 rallies that attracted maximum attention.
In Maharashtra, where the 'Mahayuti' alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and smaller parties is against the 'Maha-agadhi' led by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party whereas the ruling BJP is locked in a contest with the opposition Congress and the fledgling Jannayak Janata Party for the 90 assembly seats in Haryana.
Sena chief has now put ball in BJP's court indicating that Shiv Sena's tiger is back to roar. Sanjay Jog reports
'We told the victims this was the only opportunity for them to get their story recorded.' 'If they did not recount their version the other side would concoct their own theory about what happened at Bhima-Koregaon.'
'The Sanatan Sanstha does not believe in violence. The concept of violence and threatening people doesn't fit into our ideology and principles.' 'There are some people who are opposed to Hindu religion. They think propagating the tenets of the Hindu religion is a sign of backwardness.' 'While the RSS and Sanatan Sanstha propagate Hindutvavad and cultural nationalism, we do have our differences, which in a democratic society is absolutely normal and required.'
Rajya Sabha was adjourned barely six minutes after the House met.
Devendra Fadnavis will on Friday take oath as the 27th chief minister of maharashtra and the first from BJP in the state, at a grand function which Shiv Sena has decided to boycott because of "constant humiliation".
In a surprise development, the Nationalist Congress Party on Sunday offered outside support to the Bharatiya Janata Party to form a government in Maharashtra "in the interest of stability and development" of the state.
Vidarbha region has gained notoriety for a high number of farmers' suicides and the multi-crore irrigation scam. Sanjay Jog reports
'Over the years he has been getting a feeling of being sidelined by his uncle.'
With no clarity yet on seat sharing with old ally Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Thursday told the alliance partner to find a quick resolution to the impasse while making it clear that there will be no compromise at the cost of self-respect.
The year is coming to an end and overall, it's been one hell of a year! We have had our share of ups and downs and we look forward to a better 2020. While we count down the days to the new year, let's also reflect on those who gave us strength to stand up in what we believe, the courageous who didn't bow down and the ones with gumption who inspired us to be better. We, Rediff.com, have selected 26 personalities, who we think are worthy of the title -- HERO OF THE YEAR -- and we want you, dear readers, to choose your hero!
'The Babri Masjid wasn't just a mosque, it was a test of our secularism,' says Jyoti Punwani.
Senior NCP leader R R Patil or 'Aaba', was a quintessential grass root politician
Political observers feel that the outcome of the elections weighs in favour of the BJP which had won a massive mandate in the Lok Sabha elections, held earlier this year.
Amid bitterness in ties with ally Shiv Sena, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has fired a fresh salvo questioning the opposition to his decision to provide security to Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali when Sena Chief's family had hosted cricketer Javed Miandad from that country.
After political rivals, the Narendra Modi government has come under fire from Shiv Sena over the rail fare hike with its oldest ally terming the move as akin to the common man being run over by train.
At a time when women's safety is being debated after the Badaun sisters' rape, Maharashtra Home Minister has made another callous remark about rapes, saying that even if the government provided a police official to each house, rapes cannot be stopped.
The return of a BJP-Sena regime after a love-hate war and gap of 15 years, demise of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde, collapse of Congress-Nationalisy Congress Party alliance and rising cases of farmers' suicides dominated Maharashtra's political landscape in 2014.
