Minutes after Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh announced that he had offered to step down, Union Minister and senior leader from the state Sushil Kumar Shinde met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi.
Moments after being expelled from Samajwadi Party, Amar Singh on Tuesday struck a defiant note ruling out quitting his Rajya Sabha seat and termed as baseless reports about his cosying up to Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.
Under fire for his government's decision to give licenses only to those taxi drivers who know Marathi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Thursday backtracked, saying taxi drivers should know any local language, including Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati. The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government on Wednesday decided to give new taxi licenses to only those persons who are well versed in Marathi and have resided in the state for at least 15 years.
'The consolidation of the Congress and NCP alliance does not provide any space for such splits,' feels Dr Rajeshwari Deshpande, a scholar on Maharashtra politics.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Thursday said the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance will secure the 'magic figure' to form the state government. "We will get the magic figure to form the government. There may be a difference of two-three seats, but with 21 rebels leading in the state, it's not difficult to achieve the majority," Bhujbal told reporters.
The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra has outdone the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Shiv Sena on the sons of the soil issue, directing that nameplates of commercial establishments in the state should be in Marathi.The state government issued a notification on May 31, directing that nameplates of all shops, establishments, commercial organisations, hotels, theatres and restaurants be in Marathi, an official release said.
An opinion poll conducted on the October 13 assembly polls predicts that the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine will emerge as the biggest alliance in Maharashtra while the ruling Congress is likely to win in Haryana with a safe margin. The survey, conducted by Star News television channel and Nielsen, with 23,122 voters in Maharashtra and 7,664 voters in Haryana, predicts that in Maharashtra, Congress will get 88 seats while giving 52 to the NCP.
A series of close-door meetings are being held at the chief minister's official residence at Altinho in Panaji, where Congress and NCP legislators are working on their strategy, sources said.
Banks on mobilising support from Dalit and Muslim voters. Sanjay Jog reports.
The expansion of the Prithviraj Chavan-led Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition cabinet in Maharashtra, which was scheduled on Thursday, has been put off, reportedly as the names of the new entrants are yet to be finalised. The expansion of the 11-member ministry was slated to take place at Raj Bhavan on Thursday evening but has been postponed, official sources said, adding that the swearing-in-ceremony is now likely to take place at 11 am on Friday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Friday said the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine stands a good chance of returning to power after the October 13 assembly elections as the Opposition in the state was in a state of complete disarray. "We are going to people again on our performance. But, at the same time, we will also benefit because the opposition camp is in disarray," Chavan said.
Addressing an election meeting, Dr Singh repeatedly eulogised Lalu.
The issue of 'Marathi pride' raised by Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has polarised the state politics and the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition can ill afford to ignore its emotive appeal in an election year.
Amending the taxi permit rules that has given another dimension to migrant politics in the state since new migrants cannot now get taxi permits, the government however clarified that existing taxi drivers, who hold a valid license, would not be affected by the decision.
The Maharashtra results are not a win for the Congress' strengths but represent the voters desire for stability. In Maharahstra, the Congress has won due to the minimalist nature of hope of its voters.
The high-pitch campaign ended on Sunday in Maharashtra for the October 13 assembly elections which saw Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena fighting for the same political space and the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party aiming a hat-trick.
Suspended Congress leader Narayan Rane on Saturday claimed that he holds the key to the survival of the soon-to-be-formed Ashok Chavan led Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra.Rane refused to divulge his future course of action when the winter session of the legislature would be convened in Nagpur this month.He said he could provide a letter of 30 MLAs to the Governor, saying that they were not supporting the new government.
The Devendra Fadnavis-led government in the state is most likely to get another term.
The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine on Friday promised a Rs 1,500 crore special package for Mumbai, free power to farmers and insurance for crops in its manifesto for the October 13 assembly polls in Maharashtra.
The Democratic Front, in its manifesto, also sought to tap rural voters by promising at least 200 days of job under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
The biggest shocker is in Haryana where at least three exit polls predicted decimation of the Opposition, but the BJP won 40 seats in the 90-member assembly and the Congress 31 seats.
In a countrywide advisory, the Union home ministry also said the state governments and UT administrations must ensure that the COVID-19 guidelines issued with regard to health and social distancing are strictly followed.
The ruling Shiv Sena on Wednesday announced the candidature of Sachin Ahir and Aamshya Padvi for the upcoming Maharashtra legislative council polls as it decided against renominating senior leader and state minister Subhash Desai and another party veteran Diwakar Raote for the election to the upper house of the state legislature.
NCP MLAs Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale (Satara), Vaibhav Pichad (Akole) and Sandeep Naik (Airoli) and Congress MLA Kalidas Kolambkar (Naigaon) handed over their resignation letters separately to Speaker Haribhau Bagade at the state legislature building Vidhan Bhawan in south Mumbai.
The election will be held on Sunday, a day after the ruling alliance cleared the floor test.
Terming the opposition parties as "shameless", the PM also slammed them for objecting to the issue of abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir being raised during campaigning by BJP leaders for the Maharashtra assembly polls.
The newly expanded Maharashtra council of ministers has several leaders from political families.
"We agreed to contest fewer seats (than the BJP), but I cannot accommodate the BJP every time. I should allow my party to grow," the Sena chief said.
Nitish Kumar has again proven that he is a master of the art of changing governments.
Apart from around 100 MPs of the Congress, leaders of several opposition parties including Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party attended the meeting.
The toll in Mumbai's worst hooch tragedy rose to 102 on Monday with the death of five more victims who consumed spurious liquor in Malad area and another 46 are in hospitals with eight of them struggling to survive serious ill-effects of the killer brew.
Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said the Bharatiya Janata Party will provide a strong government which will work for farmers.
Speaking at the meeting called by the central government, Modi said India is in a better position than many other countries in terms of the ratio of the population hit by the disease but underlined the need to remain vigilant as he cited the resurgence of the infection in some countries like the UK, sources said.
After it failed the crucial May 2014 'exams' without even getting 'passing marks', its that time again for the Congress as elections for the two state assemblies of Maharashtra and Haryana taking place on October 15. Renu Mittal reports
President's rule was imposed on Sunday in poll-bound Maharashtra after Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan resigned following the break-up of 15-year-old Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance in the state.
Addressing a press conference, BJP leader and former Maharashtra minister Ashish Shelar taunted the Sena-NCP-Congress for "identification parade" of their MLAs and termed it as a cruel joke on the people of the state and democracy.
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