The Vishwaguru who addressed the maximum rallies and boasted of being blessed with divine energy, who promised guarantees in his own name, turned out finally not invincible, points out Jyoti Punwani.
Sparks flew on the first day of the debate on the no-trust motion moved by the Congress with the Opposition on Tuesday asserting that it was forced to do so to break Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'maun vrat' (vow of silence) on Manipur and the treasury benches hitting back saying it was a no-trust vote against a 'poor person's son' who has worked for the welfare of the people.
Shalini Patil called Pawar's 1978 move to grab power an "act of betrayal and stabbing in the back".
Bharti accused the media of distorting her statement, attributing it to the BJP's agenda.
The BJP MLA alleged that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is "trying to create a kingdom of criminals in Maharashtra".
Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).
Patil, Patel, Bhujbal, Awhad and their colleague Dilip Walse Patil in one voice said they will not accept Pawar's decision. A few party functionaries even tendered their resignations on the spot to put pressure on the 82-year-old politician, while some workers suggested that a working president be appointed.
"Pawar saheb himself had said about the necessity of change in the guard a few days ago. We should see his decision in the light of his age and health also. Everyone has to take a decision according to time, Pawar saheb has taken a decision and he won't take it back," Ajit Pawar said.
'It is everyone's desire and demand that Pawar saheb remains the NCP chief'
Members of the Parsi community, business leaders and politicians were among those who attended the cremation.
'If they don't make Ajit Pawar chief minister, what can he do?'
'The Shiv Sena as a party was going nowhere.' 'Now Uddhav Thackeray has shown his partymen that he can take the BJP head on.'
Pawar, who was also the deputy CM in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, which was in power from November 2019 to June 2022, enjoys the image of a grassroot leader and an able administrator.
His son and party chief Akhilesh Yadav lit the funeral pyre. The former Uttar Pradesh CM had died aged 82 at a private hospital in Haryana's Gurugram on Monday.
The tit for tat actions came a day after Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government as deputy chief minister along with eight other NCP MLAs who were inducted as ministers.
The Election Commission has reduced maximum number of campaigners for the recognised parties to 30 while for the unrecognised parties it would be not more than 20 in view of coronavirus pandemic, Additional Chief Electoral Officer (ACEO) Sanjay Kumar Singh said on Friday. The maximum number was earlier fixed at 40 for everybody.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday said the COVID-19 vaccination drive will be extended in the coming days and asserted that there should not be any misconceptions about the two Indian vaccines being administered in the country.
These MLAs were present when BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and NCP's Ajit Pawar were sworn in as chief minister and deputy chief minister at Raj Bhavan. Both the MLAs said they were with the Nationalist Congress Party and expressed solidarity with its president.
Asked how many seats INDIA bloc will get, Gandhi said, "Have you heard Sidhu Moose Wala's song '295'? So 295 (seats)."
A photograph of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat sitting with Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has set tongues wagging in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, with the Congress taunting that the S in SP means the Sangh.
In a historic transition, the Parliament moved into a swanky new complex on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging MPs to forget all past bitterness and start a new chapter and the introduction of the women's reservation bill taking centre stage.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that Malik is being troubled because he spoke against the Union government and 'misuse' of central probe agencies.
Labour union leader Shrirang Barge said the state government would have known Dharmadhikari has a massive following and that the event would have attracted several lakh people, so why were arrangements for water, shade etc, missing.
Till now, some water from the Nira Deoghar dam in Pune was being diverted to Baramati and Indapur (a part of Baramati Lok Sabha constituency).
A voter turnout of 60.19 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday with sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal.
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.
'My request to Amit Shah would be "Please do not use archaic laws and muscle power against voices that have always stood by India.".'
The stakes are significant for the BJP in this round as the party had in 2019 won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, that will go to polls on May 7.
Maybe, the need for secrecy may have tied the government's hand from sharing details in Parliament. Still, it should consider the need of sharing the utmost within any consultative committee, so that relative secrecy is still maintained. But such a course should involve the prime minister or home minister, as it is much more serious than is being made out to be, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
Considering the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, the administration in Maharashtra's Pune district has directed schools and colleges to remain shut till March 31 and curtailed the operating time for hotels and restaurants.
The eight members -- distributed among the Congress, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party -- were suspended earlier in the day for the remainder of the Monsoon Session over their 'unruly behaviour' during the passage of farm Bills in the Upper House of Parliament.
'People in politics have lost the value of being connected to their own people.' 'Now it's all about vote share, vote bank, how many parties can you break and make them join you.'
The prime minister has called a meeting of chiefs of all parties having representatives in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on June 19 to discuss 'one nation, one election'.
Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and several other party leaders were detained on Tuesday night as they held a dharna at the Union Rural Development Ministry office in New Delhi demanding a meeting with the minister and released around three hours later.
Satara, Sangli, Panvel have stopped vaccination while Buldhana has only one day's vaccine doses left in stock, said Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope.
Pawar was the deputy CM twice in the 15-year regime of Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra during 1999-2014.
Thackeray said he was in constant touch with the Centre over the issue of running more trains to ferry migrant labourers, stranded due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, to their native places.
With just 11.8 per cent, the nation lags behind its neighbours and peers when it comes to women's representation in national legislatures.
'Look at the impropriety of the Anti-Corruption Bureau giving Ajit Pawar a clean chit!'
Thackeray, 59, became the third Sena leader after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane to occupy the top post.
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