Political sources say Modi is 'keen' on getting the NCP (SP) over to the Mahayuti to counter Eknath Shinde's 'demands' and to act as a cushion against his present allies, Nitish Kumar and N Chandrababu Naidu, 'in case their relationship became untenable'.
BJP leaders in Maharashtra criticized Uddhav and Raj Thackeray's joint rally in Mumbai, calling it a desperate attempt to revive their political fortunes ahead of civic polls. They accused the Thackerays of using the Marathi language issue as a guise to regain power and criticized their past actions.
Among the 23 MLAs whose disqualification has been sought include Ramdas Kadam, Subhash Desai and Datta Nalawade.\n
State BJP president Nitin Gadkari said the government has misguided people by referring to past achievements in the Budget speech. But the people would teach them a lesson in coming Lok Sabha polls, he said.
As suspense over who will become the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra continues, Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Sunday backed his party's chief, Ajit Pawar, for the top post.
Ruling out any sabotage angle in the June 21 Mantralaya inferno, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan lashed out at the Opposition for fuelling such speculations.
The Sena (UBT) chief and his MLA son Aaditya Thackeray on Tuesday met with Fadnavis and assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar at Vidhan Bhavan premises in Nagpur. Aaditya said they extended good wishes to the two and talked about taking a step towards showing political maturity and working together in the interest of the people.
The 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly constitutes the electoral college Rajya Sabha elections, scheduled on June 10, and a candidate needs 42 votes to win a seat.
The last time when more than 200 MLAs were part of the state government was in 1972, but at that time all the 222 legislators belonged to Congress. Also, the strength of the House was 270 at that time, a former state legislature official said on Monday citing data.
The court indicated that it was not inclined to allow the amendment and sought to know from Malik's lawyers if they wish to withdraw the petition and file a fresh plea.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday said he has followed the principle of '80 per cent social work and 20 per cent politics' of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray in his career and pledged to continue working for the common man. Shinde's remarks came after the state assembly passed a unanimous resolution congratulating him for receiving the 'Adya Jagatguru Shri Sant Tukaram Maharaj Puraskar', a prestigious award from the Warkari (devotees of Lord Vitthal) community, earlier this month. The resolution comes amid a row over stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra's alleged defamatory remarks against Shiv Sena leader Shinde, with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde demanding an apology from Kamra even as the opposition came out in his support.
We will defeat them in the Speaker's election itself. We are sure the Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP will form the government," Nawab Malik said.
Nobody has claimed that the wagh nakh being brought to the state from London was used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Maharashtra minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told the legislative assembly.
Thackeray's tour comes a week after Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar and eight other NCP MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government.
Former Maharashtra home minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party leader R R Patil, 57, who was undergoing treatment for oral cancer passed away on Monday afternoon.
An MLA from Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena faction and a legislator of the Nationalist Congress Party virtually came to blows in the Vidhan Bhavan premises in Mumbai on Wednesday after shouting slogans against each other.
Expressing concern over the rise in Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said the use of face masks will have to be made mandatory if the spike continues.
Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLA and minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday moved the Supreme Court against the disqualification notice issued by the deputy speaker to him and 15 other rebel legislators.
Terming the registration of FIR against Home Minister R R Patil by Karnataka police as "wrong", Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday said he would speak to his counterpart from the neighbouring state and request him to drop the charges.
'Your militia can rampage outside the legislature, but it can, and will, be thwarted entry into the legislature. You cannot carry your grudges on any aspect of life in Maharashtra there in the fashion your men have done.'
A video clip of three accused in an extortion case linked to the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, walking together has emerged on social media. The video also shows a suspended police officer in the group accompanying the accused. The video has sparked controversy and raised questions about the involvement of the police in the case. BJP MLA Suresh Dhas has demanded that the suspended police officer be named as a co-accused in the case and that action be taken against other police officers who have been accused of wrongdoing.
Fadnavis (52), in an explanatory statement submitted to civil judge VM Deshmukh on April 15, said there was no intention to deliberately conceal information about the two "insignificant" complaint cases.
'The BJP is using its money and muscle power to break the MVA government.'
The much-delayed expansion of the 41-day-old Maharashtra ministry saw as many as 17 former ministers taking oath on Tuesday.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R R Patil said dance bars, which had flourished in various parts of the state, had adverse effect on the youth, 'damaging' the cultural texture of the state.
The time for filing of nomination for the post of Maharashtra legislative assembly speaker was on Tuesday extended after the Shiv Sena disrupted proceedings and demanded that the notification of schedule for the speaker's election be cancelled as all members had not taken oath.
The former Union minister said all (parties) should keep trying to get the bill passed.
Referring to differences between Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Governor B S Koshyari over various issues, the Bombay high court on said Wednesday it was "unfortunate" that the two highest constitutional functionaries in the state "did not trust each other".
Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar head Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Monday separately visited the memorial of the state's first chief minister Y B Chavan in Karad and paid tributes to him on his death anniversary.
A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of senior advocates led by Kapil Sibal that the several pleas of the Uddahav faction were to be listed on Monday.
Former state minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil was on Monday elected as the Congress legislature party leader in Maharashtra, where the party has lost power.
The timeline of the Shiv Sena-centric political crisis in Maharashtra.
A meeting of the newly elected Congress Members of Legislative Assembly in Maharashtra on Saturday authorised party president Sonia Gandhi to nominate their new leader, who will be the next chief minister. A one-line resolution, authorising Sonia Gandhi to name the new leader, was passed at the first meeting of the Congress Legislature Party, convened in Mumbai to elect the leader, two days after the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine stormed back to power.
Majit Sethi, with his outbursts, is said to be posing danger to society and there was an urgent need to curb such a tendency.
Asaduddin Owaisi, who was once the leader of a little-known outfit confined to the old city of Hyderabad, has emerged as a powerful voice of Muslims in the country in recent years.
Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party president Ajit Pawar on Saturday won from his traditional Baramati assembly constituency by defeating his nephew and NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar candidate Yugendra Pawar by more than one lakh votes.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar on Thursday filed papers as an NCP candidate for Rajya Sabha elections.
The saffron allies are locked in an intense negotiation on seat-sharing and a consensus has eluded them till now on how many constituencies each of them will contest.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has shifted its focus back to Hindutva after suffering significant losses in the recent Maharashtra assembly elections. The party has been vocal about attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh and has taken a stance to "protect" a Hanuman Temple in Mumbai. Observers say this move is an attempt to regain its core voter base and counter the BJP's narrative on Hindutva, ahead of the upcoming civic polls. Analysts believe the party's "secular" stand may not be effective in the BMC elections and that its return to Hindutva is a sign of frustration from electoral setbacks.
Except for the Devendra Fadnavis- led government during 2014-19, Anil Deshmukh has managed to find a berth in the state ministry irrespective of which party came to power in the last over two decades.
