'If all of us (all the 57 Shiv Sena MLAs) stand together we can change the dynamic. We are not afraid of anyone.'
Congress MLA Nana Patole was suspended from the Maharashtra assembly for a day on Tuesday after he climbed the speaker's podium, demanding action against Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Babanrao Lonikar and Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate for allegedly 'insulting' farmers.
A potpourri of political parties are in the fray in Goa.
"I became irritated with Melroy D'Souza as he was chasing me in his jeep," he later said.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has sought an apology from the organisers of the Sunburn music festival over their reported allegations that they had to shell out money to obtain permission for hosting the event in the beach state last year.
Hitting out at Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar for indulging in a blame game over the MVA's defeat in the state assembly, Raut said those who don't believe in consensus and compromise have no right to be in an alliance.
'In today's political spectrum, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party that always says, nation first.'
Shinde had retained most of the sitting MLAs, who chose to be with him when he led the rebellion two years ago. They delivered for him on Saturday when votes for the state polls were counted.
A court in Goa capital Panaji on Wednesday issued a warrant to search Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's official residence in Delhi to trace former Goa minister Francisco 'Miccky' Pacheco who is reported to be absconding for a fortnight since his conviction in a 2006 assault case.
In a letter to Kharge, Khan said he will not campaign for party candidates for the remaining phases of the Lok Sabha polls and is also resigning from the state Congress campaign committee.
It is a record that the saffron party has created, where the majority of its legislators belonged to the minority community.
Their flight landed at the Mumbai airport around 8 pm nearly 50 minutes after it took off from Dabolim airport in Goa.
Rebel Shiv Sena MLAs led by senior leader Eknath Shinde, who are currently camping in Goa, will hold a meeting on Thursday to decide the way forward as they are likely to support the Bharatiya Janata Party to form the next government in Maharashtra following the resignation of Uddhav Thackeray as the chief minister.
Goa's Rural Development Minister Fransisco Miccky Pacheco, whose conviction for assaulting a government servant was upheld by the Supreme Court, resigned from the cabinet on Friday saying he did not want to cause further embarrassment to the BJP-led government in the state.
Five Goa Congress MLAs, who went incommunicado a day before, attended the state assembly proceedings on the first day of the monsoon session on Monday, and claimed there was 'nothing wrong' in the opposition party.
"Farmers' organisations in western UP have expressed their willingness to support the Shiv Sena and we may ally with smaller parties. In Goa, efforts are on to explore a formula like MVA. Let's see if we succeed," Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said.
Soon after meeting, Raut hinted at a pre-poll alliance with the Congress in UP and Goa, stating that the parties are thinking of working together in both the states that are scheduled to go to assembly polls early next year.
Chidambaram, who is the Congress' senior election observer for the Goa Assembly polls, also hit out at the Trinamool Congress for its barbs at the Congress for not forging an alliance with it, saying the party continued to poach Congress leaders, despite making an offer of a tie-up.
'Not just Maharashtra, the Congress has not fielded even one Muslim candidate from Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.'
An official video showed the prime minister being welcomed at the church and him greeting priests and worshippers on the holy day.
The draft will be examined, studied and discussed before it is tabled in the assembly on February 6, he said.
The four-day old Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government will face the floor test on July 4 during the special two-day session of the Legislative Assembly beginning on Mumbai Sunday.
I will give answer to the public in 2019, but Akhilesh government must answer to the people as it had ruled it for the last five years, Modi said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to nominate Ananta Rai 'Maharaj', who has been demanding a separate state of 'Greater Cooch Behar' to be carved out of West Bengal, as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from the state, has kicked off a fresh storm with the ruling Trinamool Congress accusing the saffron party of fanning separatism in the state.
"We are here together for people of Maharashtra. A government was formed in the state without a majority. Karnataka, Goa, and Manipur, BJP didn't have majority anywhere but formed a government," said the NCP chief.
With the Supreme Court on Thursday ruling that it cannot restore Uddhav Thackeray as Maharashtra chief minister, legal experts said the ball was now in the court of the speaker of the Maharashtra assembly.
The two rival Senas took over each other a day after the party's 57th foundation day celebrations which saw Thackeray and Shinde holding separate events in Mumbai and trading charges.
'We are the real Shiv Sena and we will remain in the Sena.'
'We get the opportunity for new recruitment and the chance to introspect.'
As the new year arrives, what is clear is that the BJP's stars continue to shine the brightest while its rivals' search for a way to dim their glow go on.
Rebel Shiv Sena MLAs from Maharashtra have contributed Rs 51 lakh for the flood relief wok in Assam, where they have been camping since the last week, their spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Shinde and Fadnavis held a brief meeting at the latter's residence before both of them headed to the Raj Bhavan along with several BJP leaders.
However, the AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the SC committee has limited terms of reference and 'cannot bring out the deep nexus between' the prime minister and the billionaire businessman.
Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party spokesperson Nawab Malik on Tuesday said any decision on the opposition's candidate for the post of the country's next President will be taken collectively by leaders of various parties, and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's name could be considered only if his party Janata Dal-United snaps ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Congress and JD-S have made much of Amit Shah's remarks about milk co-operatives. 'If the Opposition harps on the statement, it could add to the narrative that Gujarat was trying to take over Karnataka.'
Around 50 dissident Maharashtra MLAs from Shiv Sena and Independent MLAs, led by Eknath Shinde, on Wednesday left the Radisson Blu hotel in Guwahati where they had been kept for the last few days under massive security, and prayed at Kamakhya temple.
"I am also quitting as member of Legislative Council," Thackeray said in a webcast.
Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde was on Thursday sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister, while the BJP's Devendra Fadnavis took oath as deputy chief minister.
Controversial Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Sakshi Maharaj's comments have once again put the Narendra Modi government in a jam. Though the party swiftly slapped a show cause notice on Maharaj, asking him to explain why action should not be initiated against him for his controversial remarks in the recent past, the man denied it, saying it was the 'BJP's internal matter.'