'We were discussing government formation with Sharad Pawar. We had even finalised portfolio distribution and guardian ministers' responsibilities'
Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narvekar will likely disqualify the 16 Shiv Sena MLAs, including Eknath Shinde, who will then be asked to resign as chief minister. 'Once this is done, Ajit dada will be sworn in chief minister.'
Shinde said his new deputy Ajit Pawar has chosen the path of development and expressed his faith in the leadership of Modi.
Asked if the investigation by the Enforcement Directorate prompted some NCP leaders to join the BJP-Shiv Sena government, Pawar said he didn't have any information regarding this.
The MNS chief started his speech with the name of Nehru, then paused. After a few tense seconds, he resumed: "After Nehru, here is the only politician who will be PM for the third term."
Ahead of the elections, a lot had been spoken of the large number of leaders defecting from the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena. In fact, a month before the polls, more than two dozen Congress-NCP leaders quit and joined the BJP in hopes of riding high on the Narendra Modi wave. While for some the shift has brought in good fortune, for others it has brought loss. Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com analyses how these defectors have fared.
Raj also justified his support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing the construction of the Ram Temple and abrogation of Article 370 among other reasons.
SC dismisses plea against Sena-NCP-Congress alliance
Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rashmi Shukla on Thursday became Maharashtra's first woman Director General of Police (DGP).
Modi unveiled the statue on December 4 last year on the occasion of Navy Day. He also participated in the celebrations at the fort.
A section of Shiv Sena lawmakers had raised certain concerns after the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar joined the one-year-old Shinde-BJP government.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole has said that his party's top brass will discuss with Nationalist Congress Party founder Sharad Pawar his much-debated meeting with politically estranged nephew and state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar when the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) holds its conclave in Mumbai later this month.
At least five Congress MLAs did not attend a meeting of the party's lawmakers in Maharashtra on Thursday, called in the aftermath of the high-profile exit of former chief minister Ashok Chavan that has triggered speculation about more such defections.
"I am boring, steady and not impulsive...Emotional relationships and professional work are two different things. I will never mix the two," she said.
Discussions on other issues are in progress, Pawar said after the meeting, held at the Nehru Centre in Worli.
Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar said farmers as well as the NCP and other parties are opposed to the new bills. "Farmers think that the laws are not beneficial for them. There was no hurry (to pass them)," he said.
Aaditya claimed that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari refused to grant more time to the Sena to muster numbers.
Unless it leaves the NDA, we will wait and watch the developments, the NCP said.
Bollywood actor and former Congress Lok Sabha MP Govinda on Thursday joined the Shiv Sena in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Mumbai.
He also termed the draft notification issued by the state government providing Kunbi certificates to all Marathas as a mere 'eyewash', and said caste is determined by birth and not affidavits.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar also ruled out any alliance with the Sena.
'If the Pawars are so powerful, then why are they scared of me?'
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Friday that he would first speak with Nawab Malik to understand the former minister's position about his political affiliation before explaining his Nationalist Congress Party group's stand on the matter.
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".
While the responses of the candidates were predictable, depending on which side they belonged to, an interesting point slipped through when Rahul Shewale cited the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as a scheme that would add to Mumbai's importance. No big infrastructural project in Mumbai, he said, could be successful without the Centre's nod.
The Shiv Sena has decided to move its MLAs to a luxury hotel at Powai in northeast Mumbai ahead of the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, a party leader said on Friday, as the ruling coalition spearhead treads a cautious path after being outsmarted by the BJP in the last week's Rajya Sabha polls.
The MLA claimed his name had figured in the list of nine ministers of NCP, including Ajit Pawar who took oath last Sunday.
The swearing-in of Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar and several of his colleagues as deputy chief minister and ministers, respectively, on Saturday has meant Maharashtra has seen four oath-taking ceremonies in as many years at its stately Raj Bhavan.
A team of tax department officials is undertaking the raids against Jadhav, also the chairman of the BMC standing committee, since early morning, they said.
Bhujbal said the recent developments in the NCP happened after legal experts were consulted to escape disqualification.
'If the situation arises, the committee will decide on Pawar's successor and the decision will be unanimous'
Birla said Narwekar will head the committee that will be formed to review the anti-defection law.
The disclosure by Chhagan Bhujbal that he resigned as a minister last November has put a focus on the Maratha quota tightrope the Eknath Shinde-led government is walking amid restlessness in OBCs, with Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray claiming Bhujbal and the Bharatiya Janata Party are hand in glove.
BJP heavyweights Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Ajay Mishra Teni and Kailash Chaudhary were among the 13 Union ministers who tasted defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states forced the BJP to rely on allies to form the government.
The two parties, who are partners in the DF government in Maharashtra as well as in the UPA government at the Centre failed to reach an agreement on seat sharing.
The NCP supremo, who was at the receiving end of his nephew's move during the day, had, 45 years ago, split the Congress and walked out with 40 MLAs, leading to the collapse of the Vasantdada Patil government.
An editorial in the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray mouthpiece Saamana claimed the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has not only 'muddied' politics of Maharashtra but also of the country.
We left the Congress-NCP govt because we didn't want to be with them, Shiv Sena spokesperson said.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Amol Mitkari said, "It could be a family meeting between the two leaders".
The Shiv Sena (UBT) of Uddhav Thackeray has denounced in the Supreme Court the "highly improper" meeting between Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and state legislative assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar, barely three days before the deadline set by the apex court for the latter to decide cross-petitions filed by rival Sena factions seeking disqualification of several of each other's MLAs.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances