The sources said the opposition leaders would now plan joint rallies that were put on hold due to the assembly elections.
The statue is located at the busy roundabout between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya and National Gallery of Modern Art in south Mumbai.
Springing a surprise, Pawar on Tuesday said he was stepping down as the chief of the Nationalist Congress Party
'He is our mother, our father, an institution that we all have looked up to.' 'He just can't leave us and expose us to harsh sunlight.'
"Pawar saheb himself had said about the necessity of change in the guard a few days ago. We should see his decision in the light of his age and health also. Everyone has to take a decision according to time, Pawar saheb has taken a decision and he won't take it back," Ajit Pawar said.
The MNS joining the BJP-led alliance in Maharashtra could help it with a 'Thackeray versus Thackeray' narrative, fielding Raj Thackeray, an articulate speaker, to take on his cousin Uddhav Thackeray.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP and leader of the party in the Upper House Derek O'Brien and Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Lok Sabha MP and leader of the party in the Lower House, have written to presiding officers of both Houses, urging then to wind up proceedings on Monday (March 23).
A group of Maratha reservation activists torched the first floor of the Majalgaon Municipal Council building and vandalised it in Maharashtra's Beed district, soon after setting on fire the residence of local NCP MLA Prakash Solanke on Monday, the police said.
Soon, it will become clear if he has acted to save his party, checkmate the BJP and show his relevance, observe Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said he would build new leadership in the party and asserted he gets more energy to work when such situations come up.
Putting up a brave face after its alliance in Maharashtra fell apart, the Congress on Friday targeted the Nationalist Congress Party alleging that it was trying to "get close" to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which was quick to rule out any truck with Sharad Pawar's party.
Notably, leaders of 13 Opposition parties on Saturday expressed deep concern over the recent incidents of hate speech and communal violence in the country and urged people to maintain peace and harmony.
'For a meaningful alliance, every party has to do some sacrifice.' 'That sacrifice will come only when you persuade people.' 'And that task can be done by only a leader like Sharad Pawar.'
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.
The deputy chief minister's post may go to Ajit Pawar, sources said.
"Who are they to tell me to retire? I can still work," Pawar said in an interview
Raut's statement comes a day after Pawar, during an interview with a media house in Pune, responded to a query on his chief ministerial ambitions by saying "yes, I would 100 per cent like to be (CM)".
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.
The Opposition INDIA bloc on Friday finalised a 14-member coordination-cum-election strategy committee comprising members of various parties, and it will function as the alliance's highest decision-making body and start work on seat-sharing immediately, sources said.
Mumbai police also asked its counterparts in Navi Mumbai to investigate how the two managed to speak to each other and that too for so long.
'Whatever decision he takes are thoroughly thought through for its repercussions.'
In a surprise development, the Nationalist Congress Party on Sunday offered outside support to the Bharatiya Janata Party to form a government in Maharashtra "in the interest of stability and development" of the state.
The BJP MLA alleged that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is "trying to create a kingdom of criminals in Maharashtra".
'If the BJP doesn't want to accept the will of the people, then we will show them what a majority means.'
The rivalry between the local leaders of the two parties could be a cause of concern for Shinde.
The claim evoked a sharp reaction from Fadnavis, current deputy chief minister in the Mahayuti government of BJP, Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and Nationalist Congress Party led by Ajit Pawar, who said Thackeray has "lost his mind".
The buzz about the "health" of Shinde, who was at his native village in Satara, grew louder after his supporter and MLA Sanjay Shirsat recently claimed the CM has fallen sick as he works for 24 hours.
'With one fell swoop he (Sharad Pawar) won the sympathies of the NCP workers at the grassroots, his own flock of MLAs and bolstered his position as the NCP chief'
The court will now decide whether to accept the report or direct the agency to continue the investigation and file a chargesheet.
In his lifetime, it was his prerogative to decide who should use his photograph, he said.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar, who took oath as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, on Sunday said his party decided to become part of the Eknath Shinde government for the development of the country, and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.
'Ajit Pawar wants to escape from the clutches of the investigative agencies.'
"If someone wants to go, irrespective of the party, no one stops him. Leadership is needed for this, there is no need to work yourself to stop it. The leader should take care of how to make the organisation healthy by being on the front foot. But there is nothing like this (possibility of disintegration) in our party," he said.
The ruling Shiv Sena in Maharashtra on Thursday said the state cabinet's expansion and allocation of portfolios are most likely to happen on July 14, but the rival faction of the party said it doubts the MLAs belonging to the Eknath Shinde-led camp would be accommodated in the new ministry.
'Nitish may take such a decision because he was the first person who was with the INDIA front.' 'He went back only because he did not get proper encouragement from the Congress.' 'Nitish will take a decision provided there is a strong alternative.' 'If he feels ours is a weak coalition, he will not come.' 'Then, this government will continue for five years.'
Ten days after it came back to power, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance struggled to form a government in Maharashtra after another round of planned portfolio-sharing talks between the two parties on Sunday night failed to take place in Mumbai.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday hit out at the BJP for opposing Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray's directive to state police to keep a record of migrants coming here from other states, claiming the BJP was raking up the 'outsider' card with an eye on the Uttar Pradesh Assembly and Mumbai civic elections due next year.
Shiv Sena spokesman Rahul Narvekar, who recently withdrew his candidature from the legislative council elections, met Nationalist Congress Party chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on Sunday morning.
All the current political upheavals in Maharashtra are with the 2024 elections in mind and there is a degree of white-knuckle tension in all parties.
In 1999, Sharad Pawar, along with P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar were expelled from Congress. The same year, Pawar founded the NCP.
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