Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was on Thursday slapped by a youth at a public function claiming he was angry with corruption and price rise.
Fadnavis on Monday said his oath-taking ceremony with Ajit Pawar in 2019 had Sharad Pawar's backing.
After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stated that the truth would not emerge through existing mechanisms and called for a probe, several opposition leaders including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge backed her demand.
Maharashtra BJP MLA Gopichand Padalkar's alleged derogatory remarks about NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil and his parents sparked discontent among members of the opposition party, leading to protests and Sharad Pawar expressing his disapproval to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Patil, Patel, Bhujbal, Awhad and their colleague Dilip Walse Patil in one voice said they will not accept Pawar's decision. A few party functionaries even tendered their resignations on the spot to put pressure on the 82-year-old politician, while some workers suggested that a working president be appointed.
NCP MLA Anil Patil has expressed faith in the leadership of Sharad Pawar, indicating his return to the party fold.
Soon after being removed as Nationalist Congress Party working president, Praful Patel on Monday evening announced the appointment of Lok Sabha MP Sunil Tatkare as the party's state unit chief , replacing Jayant Patil, and Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar as its legislature wing leader.
The BJP and Shiv Sena are leading in the early trends of the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls in Maharashtra. Counting began on Monday morning for elections to 12 Zilla Parishads and 125 Panchayat Samitis.
Pawar stated that there was no need to take any congnizance of what a criminal has said.
"Who are they to tell me to retire? I can still work," Pawar said in an interview
Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule claimed on Wednesday that Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar was willing to form an alliance with the BJP in 2019, but with a rider that Devendra Fadnavis should not be made chief minister.
The development comes amid a close aide of Pawar saying 36 out of 53 NCP MLAs have extended support to the new deputy CM and the numbers could go to 46 in a few days time.
Surrounded by party workers, including 32 of Nationalist Congress Party's 53 MLAs, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday reminded his 83-year-old uncle Sharad Pawar that it was time for him to retire.
"Ajit's brother Shriniwas was asked to maintain dialogue with him....My wife Pratibha and Ajit share a strong bond. Pratibha never gets into political developments, but Ajit's case was related to the family," Pawar said in his book.
Talking to reporters, Pawar said the Income Tax department has sought his "clarification and explanation" on some poll affidavits furnished by him.
'I have tested Covid positive but there is no cause for concern. I am following the treatment suggested by my doctor,' the 81-year-old former Union minister tweeted.
'In any aviation emergency, the first rule is aviate -- fly the aircraft.' 'The fact that the commander's voice is not on the recording simply means he was focused entirely on flying. It does not imply anything more than that.'
A total of 161.30 acres of land, plant, machinery and building of the Kannad Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Limited (Kannad SSK) located in Kannad village of Aurangabad district has been provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the ED said in a statement.
Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Wednesday said the Congress had back-stabbed Sharad Pawar and not the other way round, two days after Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete accused the veteran politician of backstabbing Congress and forming the NCP in 1999.
Pawar said, "I will meet PM Narendra Modi on July 18. During the meeting, I will take up various issues related to farmers with him. (NCP leader) Praful Patel and I will attend the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting."
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will head the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on the effective management of issues related to drought.
Sharad Pawar will attend a meeting of the NCP legislature party at 4 pm on Friday, party sources said on Thursday.
Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, admitted to Escorts Hospital in New Delhi following complaints of exhaustion, underwent angioplasty on Saturday and doctors said his condition was stable.
Sharad Pawar will be elected unopposed as Mumbai Cricket Association president after BJP leader Gopinath Munde's appeal against the rejection of his application to contest for the top post in Friday's polls was turned down.
There are many life lessons to be learnt from the way Sharad Pawar handled the Maharashtra political crisis.
NCP MP Sunil Tatkare's remarks came amid the suspense over a merger of the two NCP factions
Sheela Bhatt reveals how the BJP and Amit Shah have halted -- for now -- the Shiv Sena's dream of forming a government in Maharashtra.
Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party, are part of rival alliances in Maharashtra since the latter rebelled against his uncle in 2023 and joined the then BJP-Shiv Sena government.
"The committee has unanimously passed a resolution. It unanimously rejects his decision to step down and urges him to continue as party president," Patel said after a meeting of the committee.
'During the election period, Modi did not refer to the government as 'Government of India'...it used to be called Modi Sarkar, Modi's guarantee. Today that Modi guarantee is no longer there'
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday searched premises of Baramati Agro, a company owned by MLA Rohit Pawar, grand nephew of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, and linked entities as part of a money laundering probe into the alleged Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam, official sources said.
Senior NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil met with Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray to discuss a potential alliance for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. The meeting follows an alliance between Uddhav Thackeray and MNS chief Raj Thackeray. Discussions are ongoing, with the NCP (SP) advocating for a united Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) approach.
As the tussle for control of the Nationalist Congress Party hotted up after its vertical split, Sharad Pawar on Thursday declared he was the president of the party and hit back at nephew and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's retirement jibe, saying he will work more effectively "whether 82 or 92."
Addressing a press conference in Pune, Pawar also responded to a query on Thursday's meeting between industrialist Gautam Adani and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, saying the two know each other and there is nothing wrong if two such persons meet.
Ajit Pawar was earlier sworn in as deputy chief minister in the Eknath Shinde government, while eight others, including Walse Patil and Bhujbal, were made ministers, the developments coming after a vertical split in the NCP.
Union Minister Sharad Pawar, whose recent meeting with Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray left ally Congress fuming, firmly told the Shiv Sena not to impose its authority, as he hailed Mumbaikars for defying the Sena's protests against My Name is Khan .
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar on Friday said the party was still part of the Mahayuti alliance because of mutual respect among allies and its commitment to the state's progress.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut also said "Pawar will attend the meeting in Bengaluru tomorrow morning."
These MLAs were present when BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and NCP's Ajit Pawar were sworn in as chief minister and deputy chief minister at Raj Bhavan. Both the MLAs said they were with the Nationalist Congress Party and expressed solidarity with its president.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday said that Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has no prime ministerial ambitions and won't contest the next Lok Sabha elections.