Polling for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly was continuing in brisk pace in Mumbai on Tuesday. 20 per cent polling had already been completed in the state till noon.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray has insulted Babasaheb Ambedkar by criticising Dalit leaders from the state for their obsession with Indu Mills land to build an Ambedkar memorial, Republican Party of India leader Ramdas Athawale alleged in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Angry mobs organised rallies against Thackeray, burnt his effigies and demanded action against the MNS supremo . Thackeray's statement, comparing the popular Chhath festival to a natak, evoked wide spread protests. Political leaders, cutting across party lines, slammed the comment made by Raj Thackeray. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan criticised Thackeray's statement.
A delegation of Opposition leaders in Maharashtra, including Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, and Raj Thackeray, met with the state's chief electoral officer to raise concerns about alleged irregularities in the poll process, particularly regarding the voters' list, ahead of local body elections.
Traditional Hindu priests of the Vishnupad Temple in Bihar's Gaya town -- known as Gaywal Pandas -- are busy trying to find out if Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, his son Uddhav Thackeray and his nephew and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray were originally from Bihar.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray Tuesday said his uncle and Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray had asked him to stop using his photos banners, at "the behest of someone else".
State Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal has reiterated that the party would never join hands with "those who indulge in violence".
The Congress party extends best wishes to the newly-elected Vice President of India, C P Radhakrishnan, while recalling the words of the first Vice President, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, on the importance of free criticism in a democracy.
'To essay Chhatrapati Shivaji is a huge responsibility. I can't tell you how great and proud I feel.'
Hitting back at Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh, who recently snubbed him for extending an "unsolicited support" to Narendra Modi and "seeking votes" in his name without joining the Shiv-Sena-BJP-RPI alliance, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Monday taunted Singh for raising the objection, while Modi was silent on the issue.
After the drubbing his party received in Lok Sabha elections, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray has announced he and his party would contest the assembly elections in Maharashtra due later this year and would be the chief minister if his party got the mandate.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said the Maharashtra government lost to the power of 'Marathi manoos' after it withdrew two GRs (government resolutions) on the implementation of Hindi, part of the three-language policy, in Classes 1 to 5 in state schools.
A FIR was filed on Tuesday against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray and Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including sedition, for making allegedly inflammatory speeches against the people of Bihar.
The cartoon shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah as twin towers under attack by AAP chief Kejriwal
Rubbishing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray's 'hollow sympathy' for him over the Lok Sabha's privileges committee summons issue, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Wednesday told his nephew that he need not bother."We are competent to tackle the case. You should not worry," Thackeray said in an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.Raj has threatened not to allow officials and people's representative from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to enter Mumbai.
Estranged Thackeray cousins were locked in a nasty spat on Tuesday with Uddhav calling Raj disloyal after he took potshots at the Shiv Sena executive president.
The Maharashtra government told the Supreme Court on Monday, that it has taken effective steps for protection of lives and religious faith of north Indians and non-Marathis in the wake of an alleged hate campaign launched by the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
In the backdrop of fresh tension triggered by his insistence on Marathi signboards for shops, the Mumbai police on Thursday barred Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray from addressing public meetings till September 30.The police sent a notice to Raj, asking him to abstain from making speeches till the end of this month.The notice was sent following a warning by Raj and his party members to all shopowners in the city asking them to put up signboards in Marathi.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleges 'vote chori' amid controversy over the quality of indelible ink used in Maharashtra civic polls. The Election Commission has launched a probe into the matter.
'BJP's last resort to win the election is to divide people into caste, religion, creed. but it doesn't happen in Maharashtra.'
Whether Thackeray's death would bring together Uddhav and his estranged cousin, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, to avoid a division in Marathi votes, remains to be seen.
Scotching speculation of any alliance between the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party and Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Sena chief Bal Thackeray said there was no need for a "third entity" in the combine.
Dozens of people took to the streets to celebrate the news of Thackeray's likely arrest. "We are playing with colours to celebrate the likely police action against Raj Thackeray, who made a mockery of the Chhath festival and made remarks against Biharis," said student leader Manoranjan Singh, while playing with dry colours at the busy Dak Bungalow square in Patna.
In an interview to Marathi daily Loksatta, referring to the decision of the Congress-led Democratic Front government to withdraw the security following his arrest in a case relating to attack on north Indian job aspirants, Raj Thackeray said, "The government's action was a foolish decision."
Multi-cornered contests, deep divisions within the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, reflected in the Congress and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray fighting separately and lack of a robust plan among its rivals helped the Bharatiya Janata Party in Mumbai polls as it looks poised to rule India's richest civic body for the first time.
Thackeray, in an editorial published in party mouthpiece Saamana, said, "The Karunanidhi government has issued an ordinance making Tamil compulsory in all schools in the state." "Lalu, who has turned Bihar into hell, should hold a mela of Biharis in Tamil Nadu, ruled by his ally at the Centre, to champion the cause of North Indians there."
Singling out trade unionist Sharad Rao whose Mumbai Auto-rickshawmen's Union has threatened to go on indefinite strike next month, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday said his party would step in to counter the inconvenience caused to commuters due to their "arrogant" behaviour.
Eyebrows were raised on Monday in political circles after the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray visited the Bharatiya Janata Party office in Mumbai and met the party's Maharashtra President Sudhir Mungantiwar.
Arrests are mandatory in cases registered against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi, a top police official said on Monday.
The last rites of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who died in a plane crash, were held with full state honors in Baramati. Prominent leaders and thousands of mourners attended the funeral.
A teenage boy was detained by police in neighbouring Thane district for questioning on Wednesday in connection with an allegedly vulgar post on Facebook against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has begun preparations for polls to the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, as well as other major civic bodies including Pune and Thane, likely to be held later this year.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday said one should not read too much into his visit to ailing cousin and Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray at Lilavati Hospital.
Public prosecutor Ajay Mishar's ride in Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's car has triggered a controversy with lawyers saying such acts raise doubts whether the Maharashtra government is serious in prosecuting Thackeray in the 2008 riot case.
Estranged Thackeray cousins -- Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray participated -- though not together -- in a morcha for the cause of textile mill workers in Mumbai on Thursday.
Team Anna appeared to be divided on Raj Thackeray on Thursday with Anna Hazare praising the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray saying his work "appeals" to him and its key member Prashant Bhushan disapproving his politics.
Daring the Maharashtra government to take action against them, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers and supporters headed towards Pune on Sunday, without paying the toll, to attend a public meeting to be addressed by their leader Raj Thackeray.
Uproarious scenes were witnessed in Lok Sabha on Wednesday after members raised the issue of violence in Maharashtra.
A Delhi court on Thursday asked police to lodge an FIR against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray for allegedly branding Bihar natives as infiltrators in Mumbai and threatening them to throw out of the state.
Thackeray also condemned the collapse of a girder of an overbridge which was being constructed on a section of the Mumbai-Goa highway in Chiplun city on Monday.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances