Devendra Fadnavis, BJP legislature party leader, will be sworn-in as the new chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday evening at a grand ceremony in Mumbai. NCP head Ajit Pawar and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde are also expected to take oath as deputy chief ministers. This is for the third time that Fadnavis will be sworn-in as the CM of Maharashtra. The swearing-in ceremony will be held at the Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, where elaborate security arrangements have been made. The formation of the government under Fadnavis comes after two weeks of intense negotiations following the November 20 state assembly polls. Fadnavis, joined by Shinde and Pawar, met with state Governor CP Radhakrishnan to formally stake claim to form the government. Following this meeting, the governor extended an invitation for Fadnavis to lead the new government. The swearing-in ceremony will be a grand affair with nearly 42,000 attendees, including PM Modi, several Union ministers, and chief ministers and deputy CMs of various states.
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 Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for 'one nation, one Election' as recommended by the Kovind panel, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
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.
Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Wednesday said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde should be willing to make 'sacrifices', in terms of seat-sharing for the assembly polls, like the BJP has done to keep the alliance intact.
Earlier, Raut said he has been holding discussions with Shinde and the talks are "positive".
While the BJP is in a comfortable position to choose between the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party, both have its share of drawbacks. Prasanna D Zore/Rediff. com reports
MLAs of smaller parties like the Bachhu Kadu-led Prahar and Independent legislators also attended the meeting, Prabhu added.
Bypolls in three assembly constituencies in as many states passed off peacefully on Monday with around over 70 per cent voter turnout, though some technical glitches in electronic voting machine were reported in Tamil Nadu and the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal alleged that the Central Reserve Police Force was "influencing" voters.
Saying that the constitutional right to vote is not absolute, the Bombay high court on Friday rejected petitions filed by Nationalist Congress Party leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh seeking temporary release from prison for casting ballot in the June 20 Maharashtra Legislative Council election.
"The size of the ministry would either be smaller or remain the same as that of former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh," the Maharashtra CM said.
BJP hints at implementing Modi's model of minimum government maximum governance in Maharashtra
Amid fear over the border row with Maharashtra and disruption due to protests by various communities, the entire city resembles a cantonment of sorts.
Election to fill up 55 seats in the Upper House of Parliament was to be held on March 26, but 37 candidates have already been elected without a contest.
The MLAs of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena have filed a fresh plea in the Supreme Court challenging the disqualification proceedings initiated against them under the constitutional scheme and on Monday sought its hearing with other pending pleas on July 20.
'Those seeking short-term benefits are joining the Shinde-led Sena and the ones looking at long-term benefits are joining the BJP.'
Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde, camping in Guwahati, has claimed that he has the support of 34 MLAs of his party and passed a resolution on Wednesday evening reinstating himself as the leader of the Shiv Sena legislative party, a day after he was removed from the post by the Sena leadership.
Defying predictions of his political eclipse, Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar has not only consolidated his position in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti, but also fortified his place in Maharashtra politics by becoming deputy chief minister for the sixth time.
The Supreme Court on Monday sought the responses of Ajit Pawar and his 40 MLAs on a plea moved by the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party challenging Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's decision declaring the group led by the deputy chief minister as the real NCP.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said he will extend all possible cooperation to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and will work as a team. Addressing a news conference, Shinde described his tenure as chief minister as very successful and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for their support. He also said the Mahayuti government secured a majority in the recent elections. Shinde said that when he was the chief minister, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar extended cooperation to him and they worked as a team. He added that he will now be "dedicated to the common man" 24 x 7. In the first cabinet meeting after the swearing-in ceremony, officials were instructed to disburse the next instalment of the Ladki Bahin scheme to beneficiaries. Shinde also rubbished all talk of him being upset over not being made chief minister. He pointed out that 39 Shiv Sena MLAs were with him when he led a revolt in 2022, and today, the party has 57 MLAs, which he asserted was a seal of approval from the people. Shinde was given a rousing welcome at Anand Ashram, the headquarters of the Shiv Sena in Thane, following the swearing-in ceremony. Several hundred party workers thronged the area carrying placards and shouting slogans in his praise.
A broad consensus has emerged among top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and other Mahayuti allies to drop ministers facing serious allegations of corruption in the new government, a Shiv Sena leader said on Tuesday.
The top court had on November 6 issued a show cause notice to Vilas Athawale, Assistant Secretary of Maharashtra Vidhan Mandal Sachivalaya, asking him to explain as to why contempt proceedings be not initiated against him for his letter to the journalist seeming to "intimidate" him for approaching the apex court on the issue of alleged breach of privilege motion.
A SpiceJet aircraft has been hired and the flight is expected to leave Guwahati's Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport for Goa's Dabolim airport at around 3 pm, sources privy to the development told PTI.
In signs of friction in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) over the chief minister's post, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut on Friday said ally Congress should understand his party's contribution in increasing the grand old party's tally in the Lok Sabha polls.
Mansukh, around 45 years old, had gone missing on Thursday night. The body was found on the banks of the creek along the Mumbra Reti Bunder road, a senior official of Thane Police said.
Candidates from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) opposition alliance in Maharashtra have decided to seek verification of the EVM-Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) units in their segments, following their defeat in the recent assembly polls. The move comes after several losing candidates, including those from the Shiv Sena (UBT), alleged that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) might have been tampered with. The MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP, lost to the Mahayuti coalition, which includes the Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP. The MVA candidates are seeking verification based on a Supreme Court ruling that allows for checking the burnt memory/microcontroller in 5% of EVMs after the announcement of results.
A first information report (FIR) was registered in Mumbai on Friday against Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray MP Arvind Sawant for referring to Shaina N C, an assembly elections candidate of the rival Shiv Sena, as 'imported maal'.
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.
The video shows Sattar giving instructions to police using the microphone from the stage. The clip also shows police mildly lathi-charging some viewers.
If Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil drops a hint of supporting or opposing a particular coalition on the eve of polling on November 20, things may change overnight.
Bhujbal stridently opposed Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange's demand for Maratha quota from the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) share.
He did not elaborate on where he was for two days.
Rathod said the Maharashtra government had initiated an inquiry against 84 out of 108 manufacturers of cough syrups in the state.
The ongoing agitation in Kolhapur against levy of toll found its echo in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Monday with two Shiv Sena members of legislative assembly from the area being suspended and physically evicted for disrupting the proceedings.
The new faces include Abhijit Adsul from Daryapur. Abhijit is the son of party MP from Amravati Anandrao Adsul.
Adequate security and Covid safety measures have been put in place for the electoral exercise.
Bhujbal, who has strongly opposed the demand to include the Marathas in the other backward classes category for quota benefits, said a new social system is taking shape in Maharashtra which is different from the order envisaged by prominent social reformers.
'The poll body should have taken a decision in a holistic manner rather than passing an interim decision'
