Failure to get elected by May 28, ie within six months of taking oath as CM, would have resulted into a Constitutional crisis for the Thackeray-led government, which was averted after the Election Commission announced elections to the nine seats in the Council.
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.
The Sena now has four cabinet ministers, including CM Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, Anil Parab, and Subhash Desai. Barring Aaditya, the rest three are MLCs.
Based on the girl's complaint, the Manpada police in Dombivli registered a case on Wednesday night against 33 persons under IPC sections 376 (rape), 376 (n) (repeated rape), 376 (d) (gang-rape), 376 (3) (rape on a woman under sixteen years of age) and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.
Days after Herwad village in Maharashtra's Kolhapur district passed a resolution to ban the customs associated with widowhood to maintain women's "right to live with dignity", those spearheading the campaign are now following up with the state government, demanding that a law be framed to end the "regressive" traditions.
'BJP and RSS may have differences over minor issues but their hearts long for one common aim -- that of A Hindu Rashtra.' 'And this time to prove this point the RSS has prepared to help BJP win this election with all its might.'
Seeking to put aside speculation about a rift over Maharashtra assembly poll seat-sharing in Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, BJP president Amit Shah met Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on Thursday night.
"Barring fire extinguishers, the other safety measures that we had suggested were not there," the official said.
A dozen ministers will take oath at Tuesday's ceremony, scheduled at Raj Bhavan at 11 am.
BJP Rajya Sabha member Narayan Rane came out openly in support of Eknath Shinde.
Thackeray questioned the central government's role as "guardian" of both the states.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said that attack on 1993 serial blasts accused Abu Salem in a Navi Mumbai jail last month could have a negative bearing on the extradition of wanted criminals from at least 50 countries.
Rohini Khadse will fight the elections from her father's Muktainagar constituency in north Maharashtra.
Raut said the ED notice to Parab was "expected" and the party would fight it legally.
'Had it not been for his presence of mind, he would have been in Guwahati now.'
'Our legal team is doing their best to argue the matter in the court.'
With organisations like the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which is a front of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, telling Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman they want OPS back, the government is in a bind, report Shiva Rajora and Aditi Phadnis.
In his letter to Ajit Pawar, who too is a deputy CM, Fadnavis said Malik has the right to attend the assembly as an MLA and added that "we (the BJP) do not harbour any personal animosity or grudge" against him.
Four BJP leaders and former Supreme Court judge S Abdul Nazeer, who was part of the Constitution bench that upheld the archaeological report on Ayodhya, were among six new faces appointed as Governors on Sunday.
Nearly 4,800 elected MPs and MLAs will vote on Monday to elect the 15th President of India, with National Democratic Alliance candidate Droupadi Murmu having a clear edge over Opposition's Yashwant Sinha as over 60 per cent votes are expected to be cast in her favour.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and several of his cabinet colleagues figure in the list of 118 Congress candidates for the October 15 Assembly polls announced by the AICC late on Wednesday.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi must apologise and take back all his remarks against late Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar before entering Maharashtra, Bharatiya Janata Party state chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said in Nagpur on Friday.
As the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections gathers momentum, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, the leaders of two prominent regional parties in Maharashtra, are fighting a battle for political survival.
Amid political turmoil in Maharashtra following a revolt by Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde, six members of legislative assembly (MLAs) and a member of legislative council (MLC) from the neighbouring state arrived in Gujarat's Surat city on Thursday and were later flown to Guwahati in Assam, where party rebels are camping, in two chartered flights, sources said.
While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.
Even as the two parties appeared confident that they have reached out to every voter and publicised their new symbols, experts suggested varying impact of the split and the symbols on the vote bank.
'The message the BJP is sending is that they are in no way responsible for Uddhav's downfall and it was only Shinde who is to be blamed.'
Some have been cherry-picked to assert the BJP's supremacy over its allies or, significantly, its leaders who charted an independent course in the recent past.
It has been a turnaround for Javadekar, who was earlier stripped of the charge of two key departments of Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs as a minister of state.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday ordered a probe into a road accident on the Samruddhi Expressway which claimed 12 lives.
Members of the Legislative Council asked how some former legislators could enter the Vidhan Bhavan premises amid COVID-19-related restrictions and sought a report on the matter.
High-profile figures Eknath Khadse and Vindo Tawde are missing from it.
So worried is Shiv Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde of desertions that he is asking rebel MLAs in Guwahati to sign affidavits affirming that they won't go back on supporting the 'cause of Hindutva' after reaching Mumbai.
The 25-year-old saffron alliance in Maharashtra is hurtling towards a break up with the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders walking out of a meeting with their Shiv Sena interlocutors that was called to discuss seat-sharing for Maharashtra assembly polls.
The MES and some political outfits in Maharashtra have been pressing for this demand on the ground that the district and a few other neighbouring areas of Karnataka have a substantial Marathi speaking population.
'Who else will solve these issues if not the chief minister?' 'Who else shall we take our complaints to?'
Amid speculation that he has been asked to come to the national capital by the high command, he said: "I have not received any call yet. Let's see."
Normalcy returned to the city, recently renamed as 'Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar', even as the government deployed five companies of the State Reserve Police Force as a precaution.
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.
Narvekar, who polled 164 votes, defeated Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi who got 107 votes.
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