'If you want to have fair elections you should have an officer, who is appointed as per the rules laid down for such appointments, which is based on seniority.'
'I would like to express my anger at the way party affairs have been handled by some people.'
Those joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers for the first time include three former chief ministers -- Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana) and H D Kumaraswamy (Karnataka).
Being the single largest party after the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance, the Bharatiya Janata Party is projecting senior leader Eknath Khadse for the post of Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra assembly, though its ally Shiv Sena is in no mood to part with it. Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray's statement -- "numbers won't determine who gets to hold the post"-- seems to have no impact on the BJP, which is projecting Khadse for the post.
Veteran BJP leader Eknath Khadse says he will expose Devendra Fadnavis in a forthcoming book.
As you sow so shall you reap -- this was the response of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab when Maharashtra's Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse asked the 26/11 convict how he was feeling at the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai.Maharashtra's Home Minister R R Patil, accompanied by Leader of Opposition in state assembly Khadse on Tuesday visited the jail in Mumbai, where Kasab is lodged. "The leader of opposition asked him (Kasab) how he was feeling.
The governor's move comes following Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's letter to the governor seeking the withdrawal of MLCs.
In a jolt to the Bharatiya Janata Party, its candidate on Thursday lost the mayoral election in the Jalgaon Municipal Corporation as 27 party corporators cross-voted.
Over 31,000 people have been affected by chicken gunia in 209 villages of Maharashtra, the state Assembly was informed Tuesday.
Leader of Opposition in the assembly Ajit Pawar (NCP) and fellow NCP leader Dilip Walse- Patil, who was home minister in the previous MVA government, too have been given 'Y-plus-escort' cover.
Talking to reporters in Osmanabad district, Pawar said Union Home Minister Amit Shah has also said that certain use of words could have been avoided in the letter.
Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra legislative assembly Eknath Khadse has welcomed the hanging of 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab saying that justice has been done.
The winter session of Maharashtra assembly began on a stormy note on Monday with Opposition parties joining ranks to criticise re-induction of senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar as deputy chief minister.
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.
Maharashtra Home Secretary Umesh Chandra Sarangi on Saturday said the state government had implemented over 70 per cent of recommendations of the Ram Pradhan Committee, which was appointed after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil on Friday said in the legislative assembly that records did not show that terror suspect Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, arrested last month in Delhi, had stayed in the MLA hostel rooms of state Minister Fauzia Khan in 2006.
Maharashtra government will file cases against the security guards of embattled IPL commissioner Lalit Modi for physically assaulting journalists, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan told the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.
Nationalist Congress Party chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's claims about not being acquainted with DB Realty and Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa are false, according to a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Maharashtra.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said it hasn't received any new proposal on seat sharing from Shiv Sena for the October 15 Maharashtra assembly polls as its state unit prepared to put the list of candidates before the central parliamentary board in Delhi on Sunday.
The three-week monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly ended on Friday on a stormy note with Opposition targeting the government on the police firing in Pune district, saying its version was contradictory to what the police had to say about the incident.
A crucial meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party members of Parliament, members of Legislative Assembly, members of Legislative Council and office-bearers, convened by Maharashtra unit chief Sudhir Mungantiwar in the backdrop of sulking leader Gopinath Munde's "rebellion," got underway in Mumbai on Tuesday. Munde himself has so far not made an appearance at the meeting.
'We met more than 250 prisoners at random and Kasab was one amongst them,' Eknath Khadse said, trying to pacify the BJP's ally in the state, the Shiv Sena, who has taken umbrage to the visit.
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
Stepping up the attack on Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra assembly Eknath Khadse of Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday alleged that 326 acres of land in Pune was illegally handed over to a trust and Pawar's daughter and son-in-law own shares in a technology park, which will be build on a portion of that land.
The opposition on Monday created uproar in the Maharashtra assembly demanding tabling of the report of Ram Pradhan Commission, which probed the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, prompting the speaker to adjourn the House three times.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena opposition in Maharashtra will seek imposition of President's rule in the state if the new government is not in place by November 3, when the tenure of the present assembly expires, a senior BJP leader said on Sunday.
The party announced names of 83 candidates for the October 13 assembly election in Maharashtra.
Instead, senior Maharashtra leaders Eknath Khadse and Pandurang Phundkar will be representing him before the party high command in New Delhi. The BJP cancelled its daily briefing in Parliament on Monday. According to sources, the party expected media persons to raise questions about Munde's resignation.
Two candidates each of the ruling coalition allies Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and the Shiv Sena and four nominees of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday night won elections to the Maharashtra legislative council, an official said.
Local officials used 10,000 litres water for the helipad at Belkund village where the minister paid a visit to review the drought and water scarcity relief measures on Friday.
'I don't think there is any problem,' Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told Rediff.com about the ongoing slugfest between Minister of State for Revenue Sanjay Rathod and his boss in the ministry, Eknath Khadse.
With all the evasions, one assertion made by the Pune (Rural) police stood out: They had found no connection of the Elgar Parishad with the violent incidents of January 1, 2018. Yet, the case against the 'Bhima Koregaon 16', which is based on exactly this alleged connection, continues, and seven of the accused continue to be behind bars under the UAPA, explains Jyoti Punwani.
The 20-month-old Fadnavis government will fill up portfolios rendered vacant after the resignation of senior minister Eknath Khadse over corruption charges last month.
As several parts of the nation remains in the grip of severe drought, a whopping 1000 litres of water was wasted for preparing a helipad for Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's chopper in Ganganagar on Thursday.
A 10-member Bharatiya Janata Party ministry led by Devendra Fadnavis was sworn-in at Wankhede on Friday.
'When Fadnavis takes our help, it was sabka saath.' 'But when we support his rival, the latter is branded as appeasing Muslims.'
The ED wants to question Varsha Raut with regard to "receipt" of some funds that were allegedly siphoned from the bank, official sources claimed.
The Mumbai police on Wednesday recorded the statement of IPS officer and former state intelligence chief Rashmi Shukla for over two hours in connection with a case of alleged illegal tapping of phones, an official said.
Shrirang Barne, an MP of Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, on Monday expressed disappointment over the party not getting a cabinet berth in the newly-formed Narendra Modi-led government and alleged partiality.
Senior state BJP leaders Eknath Khadse and Pankaja Munde don't find a place in the list, which instead has lesser-known faces like Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke and Ajit Gopchhade.
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