Union minister Narayan Rane approached the Bombay high court on Tuesday, challenging the FIRs registered against him in parts of Maharashtra over his remarks against state Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and sought protection from arrest.
The list also includes the names of Mumbai BJP president Ashish Selar, fielded from the Vandre West seat, and senior party leader and Lok Sabha MP Narayan Rane's son Nitesh Rane, fielded from Kankavli, a seat he currently represents in the assembly.
A rebellion by NCP leaders in Sindhudurg may scuttle Congress MP Nilesh Rane's chances of regaining the seat. Neeta Kolhatkar explains the politics behind the turmoil in Maharashtra's Konkan region.
Raj also justified his support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing the construction of the Ram Temple and abrogation of Article 370 among other reasons.
'We pressurised him (to accept the deputy chief ministership).' 'Being out of power would have made him weaker.'
State BJP spokesman Keshav Upadhya termed it as "vendetta politics", while former chief minister Fadnavis said this would not impact his plans to travel and meet people.
Replying to an Opposition sponsored debate on various issues facing the state on the last day of the monsoon session, the chief minister said he has been often described as a "contract CM" by his opponents.
Following are the possible contenders for the post of Maharashtra chief minister. We request our readers to take the poll at the end of this list.
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.
A day after Konkan strongman Narayan Rane quit the Maharashtra cabinet, efforts to persuade him to take back his resignation failed on Tuesday and the matter would now be referred to Congress president Sonia Gandhi for resolving it.
The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Maharashtra authorised All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi to choose a new leader to succeed Ashok Chavan who resigned as chief minister in the wake of Adarsh Housing Society scam.
Thackeray would be taking over as chief minister more than a month after results of the Maharashtra Assembly elections were declared on October 24.
The chief minister's reply came on a query on Sharad Pawar's statement a day before wherein he said there was no split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar is its leader. Pawar later denied making such a statement.
'The Congress cannot speak the BJP's words while targeting Kejriwal.' 'What is the difference between the two? Where is the unity of INDIA then?'
Six persons were arrested in connection with the clashes between two groups of Congress workers during the rally of United Progressive Alliance chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi in suburban Goregaon, Mumbai, on Thursday evening.
Many senior BJP leaders and outgoing Rajya Sabha MPs, including seven Union ministers such as Dharmendra Pradhan and Bhupender Yadav, have not been renominated by the party for the biennial Rajya Sabha polls amid strong indications that several of them may contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
There is a growing unease among Lok Sabha ticket aspirants in the Shiv Sena amid its decision to drop three sitting MPs and the ongoing seat-sharing talks between the Mahayuti partners, party sources said.
With the Congress announcing its first list of candidates amid continuing stalemate over seat sharing for Maharashtra Assembly polls, the Nationalist Congress Party leadership has gone into a huddle to decide its future course of action.
"I thought why not the son of a person who had contributed for Maharashtra should become the CM and I insisted Uddhav Thackeray to become the chief minister. Fadnavis had worked with Uddhav so he knows how Uddhav is. He should stop questioning repeatedly about how Uddhav became CM," the NCP chief said.
The BJP cannot afford to alienate the OBCs, who have explicitly voiced their opposition to the Maratha quota.
The Sena witnessed the first major jolt in 1991 when Chhagan Bhujbal, the Other Backward Class face of the party who was also credited with expanding the organisation's base in rural parts of Maharashtra, decided to leave the party.
BJP made inroads into the Congress and NCP strongholds, winning 851 seats. Shiv Sena won 514, NCP 638, Congress 643, MNS 16, BSP 9, unrecognised parties 119, local coalitions 384, CPM 12 and Independents 324 seats.
After a revolt in the Shiv Sena, party president Uddhav Thackeray was ready to align with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra if the dissidents dumped rebel leader Eknath Shinde, a proposal that was unacceptable to rebel MLAs and the national saffron outfit, legislator Deepak Kesarkar claimed on Friday.
Raut said the ED notice to Parab was "expected" and the party would fight it legally.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said the Election Commission's order recognising Eknath Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena was "dangerous for democracy", and he would challenge it in the Supreme Court.
Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha MP Nitin Gadkari, late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan's daughter Poonam, former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Vijaysinh Mohite Patil are a few of the 29 new entrants to the 16th Lok Sabha among the 48 MPs from Maharashtra.
So far, 50 people have also been injured in these incidents, the government said in a statement.
The last Sena man to occupy the CM's chair was Narayan Rane in 1999, after Manohar Joshi, who in 1995 became the first Sena CM.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
It will be interesting to see if Thackeray now succeeds in reviving the fortunes of his weakened party.
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday defended the controversial statement of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat about every citizen of India being a Hindu, and said his father, the late Bal Thackeray, held similar views.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that Malik is being troubled because he spoke against the Union government and 'misuse' of central probe agencies.
Biennial elections are being held for 58 Rajya Sabha seats across several states and by-poll for one in Kerala.
It is curtains down for Maharashtra and Haryana assembly polls. Here's a look at political biggies, who made it and who didn't.
His son Sunil lighted the pyre and a police contingent gave the departed leader a gun salute.
Thackeray, considered a soft-spoken man vis-a-vis his aggressive father, took oath as the 18th chief minister under the tripartite alliance in November 2019, the first in his family to hold a public office.
'Fourteen lives have been lost; the BMC should be charged with murder for this loss of lives,' says Congress MLA Nitesh Rane.
Addressing the Sena workers in Mumbai for the second consecutive day, he also said that doors of the state and party are closed for the rebels MLAs.
Congress leaders feel party President Sonia Gandhi is withdrawing from centre-stage, but without her son filling that void, it could be continued chaos for her party.
'The BJP's solo aim in Mumbai and Maharashtra is to finish off the Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar's NCP.'
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