The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has shifted its focus back to Hindutva after suffering significant losses in the recent Maharashtra assembly elections. The party has been vocal about attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh and has taken a stance to "protect" a Hanuman Temple in Mumbai. Observers say this move is an attempt to regain its core voter base and counter the BJP's narrative on Hindutva, ahead of the upcoming civic polls. Analysts believe the party's "secular" stand may not be effective in the BMC elections and that its return to Hindutva is a sign of frustration from electoral setbacks.
Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai, appointed for coordinating the state's border dispute with Karnataka, are unlikely to visit Belagavi on Tuesday as both have various meetings scheduled in Maharashtra during the day.
Close on the heels of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena demanding prime time slots for Marathi movies in theatres, the Shiv Sena claimed on Tuesday that the party has been fighting for the cause since long as it had filed a petition in the court for at least 500 shows for such movies every year.
'For three months Raj Thackeray becomes a staunch Hindu and for the next three months he becomes anti-Hindu.'
In a veiled attack on estranged nephew and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Tuesday said, "People of Maharashtra should show those trying to divide Marathi votes, their proper place."
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday urged politicians of Maharashtra not to use the language bogey or border issue for their political survival, as he made it clear that the state will not give even an inch of its land to the neighbouring state.
The Shiv Sena on Monday termed the "assault" on Marathi-speaking populace in Karnataka by the police as "Kannada terrorism" and asked the Narendra Modi government to intervene.
Raj Thackeray's public meeting earlier this week was clearly in preparation for the 2014 assembly elections. By reiterating that for him Maharashtra was the lone religion, he showed he was toeing neither the Hindutva line, nor the Marathi Manoos for electoral prospects, writes Sanjay Jog.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has credited late Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh with having proper understanding and maturity to lead a coalition government in Maharashtra, and said he had doubts on the capability of Prithviraj Chavan under whose leadership the Congress-NCP alliance lost power to the BJP in 2014 after ruling for 15 years.
A decision on supporting candidates for the November 20 state polls will be taken in due course, he told a Marathi news channel in Jalna district.
"Maharashtra is a great state. There is nothing wrong in promoting Marathi. But, at the same time do not kill Hindi and Bhojpuri," Amar Singh said to reporters in neighbouring Virar in Thane district.
The editorial in Saamana said, 'Since Rane is not a normal person, he undermines the pride and prestige of Maharashtra. The BJP should at least understand now.'
The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the breach of privilege motion notice issued against author Shobhaa De by Maharashtra assembly speaker for her tweets on the state government's decision to make it mandatory for multiplexes to screen Marathi movies during prime time.
Amitabh Bachchan on Monday joined another superstar Rajnikant in speaking the language of the state where some sections are targeting the Bollywood actor on the "outsider" row in a bid to calm tempers. Reaching out to Maharashtrians after questions were raised about his commitment to the Marathi cause, the Bollywood actor spoke in Marathi to say he holds them "close to my heart."
One should not allow politics to enter home, Pawar, who is currently on a statewide 'Jan Samman Yatra', told Marathi news channel Jai Maharashtra.
The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi supporters gheraoed Vinod Tawde and raised slogans.
What some of our politicians were up to on Friday, October 18, 2024.
Karnataka on Thursday accused Maharashtra of trying to "vitiate" peace by provoking people living in border areas and asserted that the state government is committed to protecting the interests of Marathi-speaking people in the state.
Giving a new dimension to his son-of-the-soil campaign, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray said on Friday that land under irrigation in the state should be given only to Marathi people.
Former Union Finance Minister C D Deshmukh was the only Marathi leader in New Delhi with self-respect, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has said.
'But when we actually express ourselves, sometimes our parents can surprise us, because they just love their children.' 'Sometimes it's just that simple. That is what I wanted to show in this film.'
'Since September 1, a senior cabinet minister has been to-ing and fro-ing between Jalna and Mumbai by chartered flight every single day with messages from the two deputy chief ministers and the chief minister to get Manoj Jarange-Patil to back down from his agitation.'
Talking to reporters in Mumbai, MNS general secretary Shirish Parkar said that the party would again raise the issue on 'World Marathi Day'. Admitting that the condition of Marathi language was bad, he quoted a couplet of veteran Marathi poet Suresh Bhat for the same. He also criticised the Central government for ignoring Maharashtra in the Railway Budget, which was presented by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday
'People will teach a lesson to those who are compromising it for the sake of power and money.'
In a major setback to party founder Sharad Pawar, the Election Commission of India also allotted the NCP symbol 'Wall Clock' to the group led by Ajit Pawar.
Election fever has reached its peak in Baramati in the last phase of the campaign for the Maharashtra assembly polls with the rival Nationalist Congress Party factions led by Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar leaving no stone unturned.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to use the 'clock' symbol in its publicity material in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections with a disclaimer that the matter was sub judice before it.
Sule said the intra-family duel in the Lok Sabha polls will not waver her respect for Sunetra Pawar as she is her "elder brother's wife and like a mother".
The actress-producer, 59, was being treated for cancer.
Chetan Patil, the structural consultant, had claimed that he was not the structural consultant for the project.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Tuesday said the 865 Marathi-speaking villages in Karnataka (comprising of Belgaum, Karwar, Gulbarga and Bidar) should be made a Union Territory.
'It showed me that this man had courage. He makes his own decisions, but he also trusted me enough in that moment to walk with me into the crowd,' Modi tells Lex Fridman on his podcast.
'When I see people's faces I can see that there is a certain sadness in their eyes which makes me unhappy as a person.' 'I want to see people happy in their lives.'
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is keen to join hands with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra with an aim to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that is currently ruling the state along with two other parties, former MP Imtiaz Jaleel has said.
Accusing the chief minister of watering down the Cabinet decision taken on Wednesday to make local language clause mandatory for 4000 new taxi permits to be issued by the state, Thackaray said: "More than the welfare of the people Congress CMs are more concerned about what 'Madam' (Sonia Gandhi) would think. Our CM should do a part time job with CMs from southern states to practise how to know to remain steadfast in their decisions.'
'Maharashtra's asmita was crushed under Delhi's feet.' 'Marathi Manoos is definitely angry.'
One of the world's oldest seats of learning, the ruins of Nalanda University are a true wonder!
Sanjay Raut, a key leader of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, on Monday claimed that Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has expressed the desire to quit after the Shiv Sena (UBT) gave a call for a statewide bandh to protest his "insult" to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, a claim refuted by the Raj Bhavan.
Malik used to criticise the BJP-led Central government and the then opposition leader in Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, when he was a cabinet minister in the erstwhile MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray.
Unidentified persons on Wednesday created a ruckus at the South Mumbai office of former Mumbai sheriff Nana Chudasama, to protest his 'anti-Marathi' banner.
