The move came after a Hindutva organization, Shiv Pratisthan, sent a memorandum to the Sangli collectorate demanding that Islampur's name be changed to Ishwarpur.
Pawar said no one gave such a proposal to the Nationalist Congress Party.
With most exit polls projecting Bharatiya Janata Party's emergence as the single-largest party in Maharashtra but falling short of a majority, the Shiv Sena hinted at a possible reconciliation with its former saffron ally, saying there should be "no bitterness any more".
Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata P president Sudhir Mungantiwar said on Wednesday that the 25-year-old alliance with Shiv Sena would not be snapped although Bal Thackeray's party had extended support to Pranab Mukherjee for presidential polls.
'We have not decided yet if we will be joining hands with the BJP and, if so, what kind of ministries will be distributed among the rebel MLAs'
Banerjee, on a visit to Maharashtra, was scheduled to meet Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray earlier, but as he is unwell, she met his son and minister Aaditya Thackeray, sources said.
Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray has equated nephew Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena with a carbon copy of the outfit he founded in 1966.
The simmering tension between Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party came to a boil on Sunday as Sena MP Anil Desai failed to take oath as union minister amid talk that Uddhav Thackeray will pull the party out of the government at the Centre and play opposition in Maharashtra.
Congress party sources claimed the three, "...are scheduled to join the party on Friday."
Shah on Wednesday met Thackeray as a party of BJP's Sampark for Samarthan campaign.
After five decades of existence, the Shiv Sena's support base seems to be shifting towards the rural electorate but there it has to contend with the network of Sharad Pawar and the BJP.
The death of a close associate of jailed godman Ashok Kharat in a car accident has prompted suspicion from opposition leaders, who question whether the incident was orchestrated to suppress facts in the probe against Kharat.
The Opposition in Maharashtra boycotted the government's customary tea party on the eve of the Winter session, citing its failure to appoint leaders of the opposition (LoPs) in both houses of the state legislature.
The party's executive president Uddhav Thackeray made this clear on the opening day of the two-day conclave of Sena office-bearers in Aurangabad.
Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, along with their families, reunited at a Diwali event in Mumbai, fueling speculation about a potential political alliance between Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS ahead of local body polls.
The Election Commission on Friday recognised the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena and ordered allocation of the "bow and arrow" poll symbol to it.
'We were told that the 'yuvaraj' had announced to contest 151 seats, and they were not willing to back down on that number'
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.
Senior Shiv Sena leader and former minister Pramod Navalkar died on Tuesday following a heart attack, party sources said.
We stand by our decision to oppose the proposed car shed at Aarey Colony, said Uddhav.
We want to make a non-BJP political front in this country, Raut said.
Congress leader Varsha Gaikwad announced the party's intention to contest the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections independently, signaling a potential strain within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.
Raut said a Congress-AAP alliance would have crushed the BJP in Delhi assembly polls, as counting trends show the Arvind Kejriwal-led party losing many seats amid the saffron surge.
A hospital in Thane, India, has been found operating an unauthorised IVF centre, leading to its closure and a city-wide inspection of all IVF and sonography facilities.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis addressed the state assembly regarding the arrest of self-styled godman Ashok Kharat, accused of rape, assuring a thorough investigation and protection for potential victims.
An editorial in the Sena-UBT mouthpiece Saamana also claimed the possibility of rapprochement between Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray has rattled "Maharashtra baiters".
Raut said his party only wants implementation of what was decided between the two allies before the October 21 assembly polls.
Twelve newly-elected councillors in the Ambernath Municipal Council, suspended by the Congress for joining a post-poll front led by the BJP, have formally joined the saffron party. The Congress criticized the BJP, highlighting the hypocrisy of welcoming defectors despite the Chief Minister's disapproval of the alliance.
The remarks drew flak from the Opposition, with Shiv Sena-UBT leader Ambadas Danve accusing Pawar of threatening voters.
Even as back channel talks over power sharing were on between BJP and Shiv Sena, the latter, in an apparent attempt to mend ties with its former ally ahead of government formation in Maharashtra, praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for hosting a Diwali tea party for National Democratic Alliance allies.
Following Raut's statement, the MNS, however, said the party's stand is decided by its chief.
In an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, the party said that while on the one hand the Bharatiya Janata Party has already started preparing for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress is in dire straits.
The privileges committee of the Maharashtra legislature will issue a show cause notice to stand-up comic Kunal Kamra for his remarks against Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushma Andhare will also receive a notice.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday laid the foundation stone of a grand memorial to Babasaheb Ambedkar at the Indu Mills compound in the heart of Mumbai, a function boycotted by Shiv Sena after its chief Uddhav Thackeray was not invited.
The rift between the BJP and Shiv Sena built up at the time of the presidential election appeared to have been resolved.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena were on Sunday trying to make last ditch efforts to salvage their alliance in Maharashtra for the upcoming Assembly polls after the Uddhav Thackeray's final offer of giving 119 seats to the coalition partner was rejected.
Sawant asserted that none of the Shiv Sena-UBT MPs had received any phone calls and condemned the attempts to "spread rumours" about mass desertions from the Thackeray-led party.
Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali's concert in the city on Friday was on Wednesday cancelled after Shiv Sena threatened to disrupt it.
He is learnt to have discussed the formulation of a joint opposition strategy on the issue of Lakhimpur Kheri violence and the detention of prominent leaders including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The numbers tell us the BJP's acceptability in Maharashtra is growing -- at the expense of the Shiv Sena, no matter what the faction, points out Aditi Phadnis.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances