Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party on Monday promised reservations to Muslims as well as Marathas, implementation of Rajinder Sachar committee report, and support for `statehood to Andaman and Nicobar' in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, released in Mumbai.
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.
The Congress in Maharashtra has a plan in place in the event of alliance with anti-Bharatiya Janata Party outfits doesn't materialise, state unit party president Nana Patole said on Wednesday amid buzz about the future of tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
'You know how politics is. You never know what will happen the next moment.'
Sources in the BJP said the expansion of the cabinet was unlikely before the session though the allocation of portfolios to the NCP ministers might happen in the coming days.
The witness has been provided protection by the Mumbai police in the wake of revelations he made in his application.
'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.'
Thackeray inaugurated Lines 2-A and 7 of Mumbai Metro, which connect the western suburbs of Andheri and Dahisar.
'We cannot accept Ajir Pawar if he comes to join us as a member of the NCP.' 'NCP is not welcome to us.'
NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Saturday received a grand welcome in Baramati, which is his assembly constituency and also the pocket borough of party chief Sharad Pawar, on his first visit after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra and parting ways with his uncle.
Sharad Pawar on Friday evening announced that he was not stepping down as the president of the Nationalist Congress Party.
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."
Milind Narvekar, the close aide of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, and NCP leader Jitendra Awhad are also contesting the election and have filed their nominations from the panel formed by Pawar and Shelar.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday shared the dais with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at an event in Pune and said the latter is now at the 'right place after a long time', but 'came very late'.
With reports surfacing of differences between Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis, Fadnavis was out seeking new allies. A disgruntled Ajit Pawar was easy to persuade.
'Many resignation dramas are played out to make others realise one's importance, but Sharad Pawar would not play such petty games.'
Pawar, who was also the deputy CM in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, which was in power from November 2019 to June 2022, enjoys the image of a grassroot leader and an able administrator.
Speaking to reporters after attending the MVA meeting at NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence 'Silver Oak' in Mumbai, Patil said the MVA -- comprising the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, the NCP, and the Congress -- will work out a seat-sharing formula ahead of the Lok Sabha and the Maharashtra assembly elections, due in the second half of the next year.
Pawar's daughter and Baramati Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule, former assembly speaker Dilip Walse Patil, state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare, NCP group leader in the assembly, Jayant Patil were present at the meeting.
The truce between Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena, following clashes between workers of the two parties over senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar's remarks about Sena chief Bal Thackeray last month, has turned out to be short-lived.
Neelam Gorhe is the Maharashtra Legislative Council Deputy Chairperson.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday said the all-party meeting held earlier in the day decided that reservation should be given to the Maratha community without tampering with the existing quotas of other communities in the state.
In what could signal the end of its long-standing alliance with the Congress in Goa, the Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday announced its decision to contest both the seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar on Saturday said he is not completely opposed to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the charges against the Adani group, but a Supreme Court committee will be more useful and effective.
"Just bargaining was going on over what he (Ajit) should be getting. As per our information, he has been given a promise of chief minister's post by pushing Eknath Shinde aside with the help of Assembly speaker's decision (on disqualification of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs)," the former CM claimed.
NCP ministers will have to spend four days a week in Mantralaya, while the remaining three days can be devoted to their constituencies.
Sule has been renominated from the Pawar family turf of Baramati, which she represents in the outgoing Lok Sabha whereas grand nephew Parth Pawar, as it does not mention Maval constituency.
'For the last two elections, the Congress manifesto has been thrown into the dustbin.' 'This manifesto will also be thrown into the dustbin.'
'Praful Patel said his residential building was sealed, and the investigative agencies have shifted their office to his house, and that he was in a helpless condition.'
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers on Monday amid a heightened buzz about the likelihood of a Cabinet reshuffle following a series of meetings of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's top brass.
The NCP leader asked how suddenly a number of records showing Marathas as belonging to the Kunbi caste were being found.
Nationalist Congress Party legislator from Pachora, Maharashtra, Dilip Wagh, who was booked for allegedly raping a girl, was arrested in Mumbai on Saturday after getting suspended from the party.
The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the Bombay high court verdict cancelling the caste certificate of Amravati MP and BJP leader Navneet Kaur Rana.
The BJP said Gandhi should explain why the Congress-led government in office before 2014 at the Centre had given land parcels to the Adani group.
'When the chief minister saw how Manoj Jarange Patil had successfully held the state government hostage to his whims, Eknath Shinde knew he had a very clear chance of enamouring himself to these Maratha agitators by accepting Patil's demands.'
'If they don't make Ajit Pawar chief minister, what can he do?'
Referring to the demand of giving a Kunbi certificate to all 54 lakh people whose proof of being Kunabi has been found till now, Patil said that they will be given the certificates soon.
'I want to warn Ajit dada and all those who have stabbed Pawar saheb by joining hands with the BJP.' 'Don't write saheb's obituaries so soon.'
