Maharashtra now has 20 ministers, including the chief minister, after the council of ministers was expanded on August 9 with the induction of 18 members.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has cancelled his election rallies in Maharashtra and is returning to Delhi due to the volatile situation in Manipur. The home minister is likely to hold a meeting to review the situation in the northeastern state, where irate mobs have set fire to the residences of several BJP and Congress legislators. The incidents follow a series of killings and abductions by militants in the state.
Eknath Sambhaji Shinde, who on Thursday became the 20th chief minister of Maharashtra, once drove an auto-rickshaw to earn a living before rising as a formidable Shiv Sena leader.
Both the leaders are expected to join the BJP during the scheduled rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the state in the coming days.
Describing the unrest among party members as just the "tip of the iceberg," the report shed light on the underlying discontent within the BJP.
The Mumbai police arrested a man from Bengaluru for allegedly threatening Maharashtra cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray, an official said on Thursday.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
Targeting Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday, Bharatiya Janata Party minister Nitesh Rane said as per the Supreme Court's past decisions, if a person is facing allegations of rape, he must be arrested.
'Ajit Dada will have no role to play as NCP's leader in the assembly whenever it is convened'
Nobody was injured in the fire, which was reported at 7.54 pm, the official from Disaster Management Unit of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said.
The approval by Maharashtra assembly Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal to appoint Ajay Choudhary as the Shiv Sena's group leader in the House in place of rebel leader Eknath Shinde may expedite the need for the ruling coalition to prove its majority through a floor test, feels a constitutional expert.
Ajit Pawar was earlier sworn in as deputy chief minister in the Eknath Shinde government, while eight others, including Walse Patil and Bhujbal, were made ministers, the developments coming after a vertical split in the NCP.
However, induction in the NCP-SP will come with riders, asserted the former Union minister.
'I don't think there is any problem,' Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told Rediff.com about the ongoing slugfest between Minister of State for Revenue Sanjay Rathod and his boss in the ministry, Eknath Khadse.
Mehta rose in the BJP ranks to become a corporator, legislator and an MP who defeated late Murli Deora from South Mumbai Lok Sabha constituency.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna passed away at his residence in Bengaluru early Tuesday morning, his family said.
Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Thursday made his chief ministerial ambitions clear, when he stated during an interview that there was no hard and fast rule in the Congress that only a Member of Legislative Assembly could be elected to the CM's post.Deshmukh added that the party MLAs and the high command should finalise the next CM. Deshmukh was replaced by Ashok Chavan as chief minister last year, in the wake of the terror attack on Mumbai.
Cross-voting was held during the Rajya Sabha elections and the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls last month.
'The Speaker has to act in an impartial way and in accordance with what the Supreme Court has laid out in its judgment.'
Union ministers Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha Tuesday along with senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and former minister Upendra Kushwaha.
L Murugan, 44, is the only newly-sworn minister who is not a member of Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha.
On his part, BJP Lok Sabha MP Narayan Rane, himself no stranger to controversies, got into damage control mode and sought to calm frayed nerves, saying he has chided his son over the remarks.
MPs, state legislators and government employees will not receive the benefit of loan waiver.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said he would move a resolution in the state assembly on Tuesday expressing solidarity with those living in the contentious boundary region with Karnataka.
The Maharashtra cabinet had approved the two bills on Friday and they were introduced in the assembly and later in the Council for passage.
Raj Thackeray had also said if such a step was not taken, loudspeakers would be installed outside mosques to play Hanuman Chalisa at a higher volume.
The Supreme Court said on Wednesday the issues related to the Maharashtra political crisis, triggered by the differences in the Shiv Sena, are "tough" constitutional questions to decide as they have "very serious" ramifications for the polity.
Sharad Pawar and other NCP-SP leaders will take a decision on whom to take back in the fold, said the MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed in Ahmednagar district.
The Supreme Court directed that the voting in the assembly will not be on the basis of secret ballot and the entire proceeding will have to be telecast live.
"Ajit dada has resigned and he is with us. Uddhav Thackeray will be the chief minister of Maharashtra for five years," Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said.
Once an auto-rickshaw driver in Thane city adjoining Mumbai, Shinde (58) quickly emerged as a key Sena leader in the Thane-Palghar region after joining politics and is known for aggressive approach towards issues of public interest.
Police have launched a probe into the killing of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique from different angles, including a possible contract killing, business rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project, officials said on Sunday.
Known for its abhorrence of Samajwadi Party Member of Legislative Assembly Abu Azmi, Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is likely to back the Congress candidate in the by-election to the Bhiwandi assembly seat in Maharashtra against the SP leader's son Farhan.
'If the BJP doesn't want to accept the will of the people, then we will show them what a majority means.'
Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution on the border row with Maharashtra, resolving to protect the state's interests and not to cede an inch of land to its neighbour. The resolution which also condemned the border dispute "created" by Maharashtra and moved by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, was adopted by a voice vote.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has expressed concerns about the Congress party's leadership role within the INDIA bloc, raising questions about their ability to justify their position. Abdullah highlighted a sense of disquiet among some allies, who feel the Congress isn't doing enough to earn its leadership position. While praising Sonia Gandhi's leadership, he also criticized the alliance's lack of consistent engagement and called for more structured communication to address potential disagreements. Abdullah's comments suggest underlying tensions within the opposition alliance, particularly regarding the Congress's electoral performance and seat distribution strategies.
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.
'The right conferred by Article 32 has been considered as a part of the 'basic structure of the Constitution', and thus cannot be taken away by anybody, not even by amending the Constitution.'
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.
