A solution to the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party standoff appears to be in sight with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reaching out to NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday amid indications that a UPA coordination committee could be set up.
A meeting of the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coordination committee in the state would take place around August 2 or 3, in the backdrop of the recent standoff between the two parties.
Sri Lanka is facing 'a very serious crisis' that makes India naturally worried, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told an all-party meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday and dismissed suggestions about such a situation arising in India.
Maharashtra Navnirmkan Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday shot down the suggestion of his party joining the grand alliance of Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party- Republican Party of India to take on the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra and asserted his outfit will capture power in the state on its own strength.
The women's reservation bill is back in focus ahead of Parliament's winter session, with several opposition parties, including the Janata Dal-United, which had once opposed the move, demanding that it be introduced and passed in this session.
Maharashtra has "no future" under the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition government as it is controlled by corrupt politicians, Anna Hazare said on Friday.
Anna Hazare on Friday said that Maharashtra had "no future" under the current Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition government, because it was controlled by corrupt politicians.
Five Members of Legislative Assembly of the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance were on Monday suspended from the Maharashtra Assembly for a day for creating a ruckus on the issue of allotting Indu Mill land for constructing a memorial for Dalit icon B R Ambedkar. The suspended MLAs are Chandrakant Handore and Prashant Thakur from the Congress and Nawab Malik, Jeetendra Awhad and Shashikant Shinde from the NCP.
Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi asked Maharashtra's Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government on what grounds it planned to revoke the suspension of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MLAs who disrupted Azmi's oath taking.
Once bitten twice shy. Shiv Sena has decided to bring on board its ally Bharatiya Janata Party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and other opposition parties to move a fresh no-confidence motion against the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government. The Sena's move comes a day after its earlier no-confidence lapsed and the announcement in this regard was made by state assembly speaker Dilip Walse-Patil.
Conceding defeat of the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance in Mumbai civic body polls, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday said the result was "surprising."
Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Gopinath Munde on Thursday said rebellion in the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance might work in favour of the saffron combine.
The crisis in Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition government in Maharashtra, triggered by the surprise resignation of Ajit Pawar, on Friday blew over with party chief
Congress sources in New Delhi say the race is narrowing down between Deshmukh and Chavan with latter having an edge.
Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal has been named the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister.
Will Uddhav Thackeray manage to hold the Shiv Sena together without his charismatic father? And what will his maverick cousin Raj do?
Opposition leaders in Maharashtra on Friday met Governor K Sankaranarayanan and demanded the dismissal of the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in the state over the death of three farmers in police firing in Maval near Pune on Tuesday.Leader of Opposition in Assembly Eknath Khadse, Opposition leader in Council Pandurang Phundkar and group leaders of opposition parties in the legislature were among those who met the governor at the Raj Bhavan on Friday morning.
With the government inches closer to the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee after the Congress party reportedly took a decision that enough damage had been done by Parliament being stalled and a signal filtering across that the government had something to hide, sources said that the modalities of how this has to be done are still to be worked out.
Even as the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition government in Maharashtra is drawing flak over the rising cases of farmers' suicides, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday promised crop loans at three per cent interest rate to overcome the agrarian crisis.Addressing her first election rally in the Vidarbha region, which has been rattled by a series of suicides by debt-ridden farmers, the Congress president tried to woo the farmers.
Within a gap of seven hours, two high-profile but diametrically opposite campaigns in this city set the tone for the coming Maharashtra Assembly elections. While Congress President Sonia Gandhi pitched for an inclusive growth with greater emphasis on poorer and backward section, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's high-decibel slogans catered only for the 'Marathi issue'.
The Congress on Thursday emerged victorious in the assembly elections held in the three states of Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.In Maharashtra, the Congress is set to retain power for a third consecutive term. It also swept Arunachal Pradesh and managed to get a slender victory in Haryana.
Turning the table on the opposition, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra has now raised doubts over the very authenticity of the Ram Pradhan panel report that was leaked to media recently.
Cautioning the people against voting for an opposition that plays with their emotions, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said that certain political parties were misusing Shivaji's name for their selfish political ends.
With the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation elections throwing up a hung verdict, all eyes are now on the next moves of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray.
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.
Ten days after it came back to power, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance struggled to form a government in Maharashtra after another round of planned portfolio-sharing talks between the two parties on Sunday night failed to take place in Mumbai.
According to BJP National Secretary Kirit Sommaiya, then Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had given six builders in Mumbai 235 lakh sq ft of land belonging to the Central and State Government, civic and defence authorities at throwaway prices.
'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.
However, incumbent Chief Minster Ashok Chavan said the Congress-NCP alliance will be looking at the Republican Party of India for possible outside support if it fell short of the majority mark.
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.
In its internal assessment, the Congress hopes to get around 91 seats, while it expects the NCP to get 49 to 51 seats. The coalition will need at least 145 MLAs for a simple majority to form the government in the 288-seat Maharashtra Assembly. The coalition is confident that it will manage some independent MLAs and small parties to keep its government afloat.
Ending two weeks of suspense, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan announced on Friday that the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government will be sworn in on Saturday
Maintaining that anything is possible in politics, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde on Sunday called for a tri-partite alliance of Shiv Sena, BJP and Raj Thackeray led-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena to pull down the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine.
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.
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.
Polling for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly was continuing in brisk pace in Mumbai on Tuesday. 20 per cent polling had already been completed in the state till noon.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has alleged that the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance has failed to develop Maharashtra in the last 10 years despite some key Central ministers hailing from the state.
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 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.
Chief Minister designate Ashok Chavan on Friday met Governor S C Jamir and staked claim to form the next government, 15 days after the Congress-NCP haggled over the portfolio issue.
