Nationalist Congress Party chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is ready to become the country's prime minister, provided there is a consensus, said party leader and Union Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel. Patel was quick to add that any talk on this right now is premature.
Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections, Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party on Tuesday faced a major setback as over 600 party workers and officials from the Pune city unit resigned.
But the atmosphere is now conducive for the Mahayuti to continue in power in Maharashtra thanks to the government's people-centric schemes, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is giving promises that it cannot execute, he said.
"Just bargaining was going on over what he (Ajit) should be getting. As per our information, he has been given a promise of chief minister's post by pushing Eknath Shinde aside with the help of Assembly speaker's decision (on disqualification of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs)," the former CM claimed.
All eyes are now on the Sena factions, led by CM Shinde, backed by the BJP, and his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray, and their performance in the coastal belt in the November 20 polls.
In an apparent dig at Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar on Tuesday said that at times those at the helm should see beyond their own "image" and not hesitate in "bypassing" rules in the interest of the common man.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday said that resignation of his deputy Ajit Pawar from the state ministry will not affect the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party ties.
Referring to the demand of giving a Kunbi certificate to all 54 lakh people whose proof of being Kunabi has been found till now, Patil said that they will be given the certificates soon.
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."
Members of the BJP and the Shinde faction staged a demonstration in the Vidhan Bhavan complex on Thursday while holding banners which read: "AU kaun hain" (who is AU).
...'hum decide karenge kaun banega mukhyamantri. This decision is not to be taken in Mumbai.'
When some MLAs were voting, members from the opposition benches shouted "ED, ED".
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.
'We were discussing government formation with Sharad Pawar. We had even finalised portfolio distribution and guardian ministers' responsibilities'
Shinde also said a party grows when leaders reach out to the grassroot worker rather than sitting at home.
A Bharatiya Janata Party office-bearer from Shirur in Maharashtra's Pune district has sought the removal of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and his Nationalist Congress Party from the ruling alliance, which also consists of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena.
Taking potshots at senior Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde, the Shiv Sena on Monday said it will be Narendra Modi who will have the final word on the issue of chief ministerial candidate in the assembly polls.
Party sources said Sonia Gandhi is considering an overhaul of organisational machinery in the state, where elections are due in less than two years.
Sanjay Raut said Shinde is not in Mumbai, but a communication has been established with him.
The SC agreed to hear on July 11 the plea of Shiv Sena's Sunil Prabhu seeking suspension from Assembly of CM Shinde and 15 rebel MLAs against whom disqualification pleas are pending.
After hearing arguments from Shiv Sena factions led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray, Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar has decided to conduct the official hearing on disqualification petitions against the MLAs of the Shinde group on October 13, advocate Anil Sakhare, who is representing the CM, said on Monday.
Reacting to Waze's claims, Fadnavis, who heads the Home department, assured to conduct a proper inquiry.
Rattled by the electoral debacle, the Congress is seriously considering replacing chief ministers of Maharashtra, Assam and Haryana in a major shake-up ahead of assembly elections.
Due to the heavy wind and rains, a 100-year-old tree fell on a tin shed under which around 40 people were standing, the district administration said.
Union Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday said that he is not a contender for the chief minister's post in Maharashtra. Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi, Deshmukh said he would leave the decision to the party high command. Deshmukh, who has headed the state government twice earlier, is claiming the support of fifty Members of Legislative Assembly.
The Congress high command is expected to face a ticklish task in choosing the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra if the party-led Democratic Front returns to power for a third time in a row in the assembly polls whose counting is scheduled on October 22.
Sources in the BJP said the expansion of the cabinet was unlikely before the session though the allocation of portfolios to the NCP ministers might happen in the coming days.
A dozen ministers will take oath at Tuesday's ceremony, scheduled at Raj Bhavan at 11 am.
Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule has said his party will throw more weight behind its Mahayuti partners Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena in the upcoming state polls and denied reports of a 'friendly fight' proposal for seats where there is a tussle among allies.
More than 100 women were among the protesters who tried to block a road in Barsu and Solgaon areas of the district, around 400km from Mumbai, by lying on the ground to stop government vehicles from entering the proposed site of the refinery, he said.
An accidental encounter between Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray in a lift in Vidhan Bhawan on Thursday caused ripples in state political circles.
Maharashtra's special security force of commandos, created to combat terror attacks, is expected to be ready in the next 60 days, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said on Monday. The Force one, to be drawn from the state police, is expected to be on the lines of the elite National Security Guards and will be equipped with sophisticated weapons to tackle terror attacks like the recent Mumbai terror strikes.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday mocked Maharashtra's Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan for not clearing pending files in time and not taking decisions promptly.
For the first time, a presiding officer was declaring in public what decision he will be taking, the Rajya Sabha member said.
Bhujbal took a veiled attack at Sharad Pawar for the opposition's boycott of an all-party meeting on the Maratha quota issue.
Decreasing the height of Shivaji's statue to make Sardar Patel's statue look taller is 'narrow and distorted mindset', the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana.
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Friday questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to install a "so-called Shiv Sainik" as Maharashtra chief minister when it did not keep its 2019 promise of rotating the top post, and slammed the new government's move to relocate a Mumbai Metro car shed to green belt of Aarey Colony, reversing a key decision of the previous regime.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said the attack on policemen in Latur district is an attack on the entire police force and such acts will not be "tolerated" in the future.
In the midst of the stand-off between the Congress and its ally Nationalist Congtress Party at the Centre, the urban development department headed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday came in for criticism by his Deputy Ajit Pawar over its alleged failure to spend funds allocated to it.
Residents of Tikondi village in Jat taluka, on the border with Karnataka, said they held the rally on Saturday to express disappointment with Maharashtra authorities for not providing them water and not developing health and education facilities.
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