Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde was on Thursday sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister, while the BJP's Devendra Fadnavis took oath as deputy chief minister.
Maharashtra Governor S M Krishna gave his assent to the Mumbai Police (Amendment) Bill, 2005, on Tuesday, aimed at banning dance bars in the state.
'As we enter 2025, it must be acknowledged that there is a convergence of capital, influential people (from business and politics) and technology deciding the destiny of others in the name of pride, patriotism, nationalism, nation building, all of it thinly veiled disguises for personal profit and glory,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
Sushilkumar Shinde will now head a 69-member jumbo ministry of the Democratic Front govt.
A day after the Maharashtra cabinet expansion, the Shiv Sena claimed administering ministerial oath to rebels MLAs whose disqualification pleas are pending before the Supreme Court, amounted to murder of democracy and the Constitution.
A dozen ministers will take oath at Tuesday's ceremony, scheduled at Raj Bhavan at 11 am.
The meeting between Thackeray and Pawar took place after the NCP chief met state governor B S Koshyari on Monday morning
On Tuesday, Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata as part of their nationwide tour to garner support for the AAP's fight against the Centre's ordinance.
Newly-inducted minister Sanjay Rathod, who also served as a minister in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led state government, had resigned last year after he was linked to a woman's death in Pune.
Sharma, who met Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan, along with local BJP leaders Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Atul Bhatkhalkar, said he wants stringent action against those who assaulted him.
With the BJP backing off from the race, the onus to form government now rests with the Sena, which has indicated that it might rope in the Congress and the NCP to prop up a government.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has asked the Maharashtra Legislature Secretary to hold a floor test of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government at 11 am on Thursday.
Fadnavis asserted that no decision had been taken over sharing the CM's post 'in my presence'.
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.
An exclusive excerpt from The Tatas: How A Family Built A Business And A Nation.
Thackeray, considered a soft-spoken man vis-a-vis his aggressive father, took oath as the 18th chief minister under the tripartite alliance in November 2019, the first in his family to hold a public office.
Aaditya claimed that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari refused to grant more time to the Sena to muster numbers.
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.
Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant hit out at the actress for leaving Mumbai for her home state Himachal Pradesh without giving information about drugs to government agencies.
'When one says Shivaji Park, it brings to mind the Shiv Sena led by Balasaheb Thackeray. And that Shiv Sena is now Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena'
'I came to meet him as a citizen. I have nothing to do with politics'
The BJP's core committee will meet on Sunday and decide the future course of action, party leader Chandrakant Patil said.
'If the BJP doesn't want to accept the will of the people, then we will show them what a majority means.'
"The state-wide bandh will commence from 12 midnight," NCP spokesman and state minister Nawab Malik said on Sunday.
What stood out in his 15-year journey as a member of the political executive at the Centre was his glowing record as India's most successful and effective finance minister. Both as prime minister and finance minister, he understood the importance of gradualism, except when the economy or the polity was in a crisis.
Koshyari recently wrote to Thackeray on reopening places of worship in the state and asked if the Shiv Sena president had "suddenly turned secular," triggering a war of words between the governor and the chief minister. Shah on Saturday told a news channel that "Koshyari could have chosen his words better".
State Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil also said that the government will introduce four-year degree courses from June 2023 as mandated under the National Education Policy and the universities will have to implement the decision.
The much-delayed expansion of the 41-day-old Maharashtra ministry saw as many as 17 former ministers taking oath on Tuesday.
Followers and politicians did not flock 'Chaitya Bhoomi', the Constitution architect's memorial in central Mumbai.
Days after Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari wrote a letter for convening a special session of the state assembly against the backdrop of the Sakinaka rape and murder, chief minster Uddhav Thackeray has hit back saying Koshyari should request the Centre to call a session of Parliament to discuss issues concerning the safety of women and growing attacks on them.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to extend the duration of the upcoming monsoon session of the state legislature and fill the post of the legislative assembly speaker urgently, citing the demands raised by a Bharatiya Janata Party delegation.
The Shiv Sena will have 15 ministers in new Maharashtra cabinet, apart from chief minister's portfolio, while the Nationalist Congress Party will have Deputy Chief Minister and 13 other ministers, sources said on Wednesday.
Shalini Patil called Pawar's 1978 move to grab power an "act of betrayal and stabbing in the back".
'I want to thank Sonia ji also. Parties with different ideologies have come together...those who were friends for 30 years, did not trust us. But those against whom we fought for 30 years have trusted me,' Thackeray said.
"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.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday questioned former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi at her Patna residence and has issued notice to her husband and former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in connection with the further probe in the land-for-jobs scam case, officials said.
The last Sena man to occupy the CM's chair was Narayan Rane in 1999, after Manohar Joshi, who in 1995 became the first Sena CM.
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.'
All the Shiv Sena rebels who had resigned as ministers of the previous MVA government to join the Shinde camp were inducted into the new cabinet on Tuesday.
We will defeat them in the Speaker's election itself. We are sure the Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP will form the government," Nawab Malik said.
