BJP claimed close to 116 lawmakers from rival parties appeared to have voted for Kovind.
Describing Fadnavis as a friend, Thackeray also said he does not view him as opposition leader.
Describing Shiv Sena as a "natural ally", BJP dropped hints that it would prefer the estranged saffron party to be a partner in its government in Maharashtra even while Nationalist Congress Party's unconditional support continues to be on offer.
Gandhi, on the other hand, has also reached out directly to the party workers in the three states to know their top choice for the chief minister post through an internal mobile messaging app, party leaders said.
Counting of votes will be held on Thursday for 51 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 18 states where by-elections were held two days ago.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the Bharatiya Janata Party is committed to bring Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country but only after following all democratic processes and discussions on it.
Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Milind Deora on Friday demanded that the judicial commission's report on Adarsh scam should be debated in the Maharashtra legislature.
Speaking about his talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the NCP chief told NDTV that he conveyed to the PM that it would not be possible for his party to work with the BJP.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, whose party has extended crucial outside support to the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Maharashtra, on Monday said the decision was prompted by the need to avoid fresh elections but made it clear that the party will play the role of an effective opposition.
The 36 new ministers included 10 cabinet and four ministers of state (MoS) of the NCP, eight Cabinet and four MoS of the Sena, and eight Cabinet and two MoS of the Congress.
He said the government would provide meal at Rs 10 to common citizens and build a super-speciality hospital in every district of the state.
In a statement after the apex court verdict, Thackeray said, "With folded hands, we request the prime minister and the president to take an immediate decision on Maratha quota."
Pawar, who at 30 became the youngest chief minister of Maharashtra in 1978, will have to do a lot of heavy-lifting in the Maharashtra assembly polls, due by October, after severe setbacks in the Lok Sabha polls, reports Sunil Gatade.
'If the BJP doesn't want to accept the will of the people, then we will show them what a majority means.'
Curtains came down on Tuesday evening on campaigning for 57 seats going to poll in the fifth and last phase of bitterly-fought Bihar assembly elections on November five, with acrimonious exchanges provoking showcause notices from the Election Commission to top leaders of rival alliances.
Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan are the other three states to pass a resolution opposing the contentious legislation, reports Archis Mohan.
Ashok Chavan, the Congress' choice of Maharashtra chief minister for the second time, on Sunday said the state cabinet would be formed after the meeting of Nationalist Congress Party Member of Legislative Assembly on Monday and added that Raj Thackeray's support would not be taken to form the government.
Members cutting across party lines demanded that an all-party delegation call on the prime minister to seek caste-wise census to determine the population of other backward classes.
The Bombay High Court on Friday said the Maharashtra Governor has a "constitutional obligation" to either accept or reject "within reasonable time" the proposal sent by the state cabinet to nominate 12 persons as Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs).
'For the Shiv Sena, Hindutva is like a shawl which can be put on and discarded at will.'
When asked about implementation of the CAA in Maharashtra, Thackeray said that will be dependent upon the ruling of the supreme court.
A coordination panel comprising senior leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra will look into various aspects of the National Population Register (NPR), Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said in Mumbai on Tuesday. Addressing the media in Vidhan Bhavan in south Mumbai, where the budget session of the state legislature is underway, Thackeray said, "Responsible leaders of the three parties will be part of it (coordination committee on NPR)." "I won't let anyone snatch the rights of any citizens of Maharashtra. I am very clear on this," he said, when asked about differences in the ruling alliance over the implementation of NPR in the state.
'If they think they can silence us by suspending us, then they don't know what BJP MLAs are made of.'
The Maharashtra government on Wednesday bowed to the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine's demand to install a portrait of freedom fighter, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, in the central hall of the state legislature in Mumbai.
'February 11, when the results are announced, will hold the key not only to AAP's and the BJP's future, but also to the way the protests against the citizenship law, NRC and NPR evolve,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
"I did say 'I will come back', but forgot to give you the time-table for it. But I can assure you one thing, you need to wait for some time."
'It is very important for Indian Americans to understand that we need to have as many seats at the table as we can get. I am going to see to it that I am going to get there," Kumar Barve, the longest-serving Indian-American legislator in America, tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in an exclusive interview.
The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Monday passed a resolution urging the Centre to provide the 2011 census data to enable the State Backward Class Commission to prepare an empirical data of the OBC population, in a bid to restore political reservations for its members in local bodies.
Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday said it would support Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan if he was planning to reconsider his decision to reject the report of the commission which probed Adarsh Society scam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and chief ministers of various BJP-ruled states attended the ceremony.
The BJP is of the view that Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttarakhand governments could collapse and a Modi wave may resurrect its chances, notes Archis Mohan.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut praised Rahul Gandhi saying there has been a substantial change in him over the last three years.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday attributed the drubbing the Congress-led UPA has received in polls mainly to the "communication deficit" on part of outgoing prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and also to issues like hike in prices of fuel and LPG cylinders by the ruling dispensation.
The state government is worried that the agitation may pose a serious threat to it, reports Sanjay Jog.
Addressing a press conference, Pawar, a Rajya Sabha member, also bemoaned the conduct of Deputy Chairman Harivansh and the Modi government's decision of "bulldozing" the Opposition in the House.
For the government to meet its GST roll-out deadline of April 1, 2017, the states will have to ratify the Bill before Parliament's winter session, starting November.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, whose 13-day-old Bharatiya Janata Party government survived a controversial trust vote in the Legislative Assembly in voice vote, has dismissed allegation of "foul play" by opposition Shiv Sena and Congress, saying all rules and procedures were adhered to in the passage of the motion.
Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's 2nd death anniversary on Monday saw BJP reaching out to Sena with a promise to construct a memorial befitting the leader's stature as it brought together the squabbling claimants to his legacy-son and successor Uddhav and nephew Raj of MNS.
"Shreehari Aney has submitted his resignation to the governor. Whether to accept it or not, is his (governor's) prerogative," an official from the governor's office said.
This will be 'an Uddhav Thackeray government controlled by a remote now held by Sharad Pawar.'
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