Observing that the sanctity of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution should be maintained, the Supreme Court on Monday directed Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar to decide the cross-petitions filed by the rival factions of the Shiv Sena seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs by December 31.
'Shinde saheb won't let anybody (Ajit Pawar) act like they did during Uddhav Thackeray's tenure.' 'Shinde saheb knows how to deal with such people (Ajit Pawar).'
Thopte's supporters attacked 'Congress Bhavan' in Pune and vandalised the property in protest against his non-inclusion in the Maharashtra ministry.
Gawli was held for intimidation of a political rival
Union ministers Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha Tuesday along with senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and former minister Upendra Kushwaha.
Fadnavis claimed the BJP was "beyond running behind anyone" as the people of India were with the party and the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The inexperienced Uddhav is forced to match up against 24x7 political pros Amit Shah and Narendra Modi who have the added advantage of wielding power at the Centre, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole claimed Thackeray had selected a candidate finalised by Congress for the Nashik Teachers' constituency without consulting coalition partners.
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.
"I am boring, steady and not impulsive...Emotional relationships and professional work are two different things. I will never mix the two," she said.
'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 36 new ministers included 10 cabinet and four ministers of state (MoS) of the NCP, eight Cabinet and four MoS of the Sena, and eight Cabinet and two MoS of the Congress.
The speaker's order was pre-decided, it further claimed, adding that there was nothing to be shocked about it.
Praful Patel said all the MLAs of the NCP, the Congress, and the Shiv Sena voted as per the party line.
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.
Shridhar Madhav Patankar, the brother of Thackeray's wife Rashmi, "owns and controls" Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Private Limited, it said.
"If we had the numbers, we wouldn't have waited for anyone. The Congress and the NCP didn't cross the 100 mark...we will work as a responsible opposition," Pawar said.
Nationalist Congress Party in Kerala, a component of the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front, has conveyed its reservations to the central leadership over the offer of support to the Bharatiya Janata Party to form the government in Maharashtra.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
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.
"One nation, one law can be understood. But we will never accept one nation, one party plan of the BJP", Thackeray said.
The former Union minister also said the people in Maharashtra are looking for a change.
With uncertainty looming over the Maha Vikas Aghadi government's stability in the wake of Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde camping in Gujarat with some party MLAs, the stand of 29 legislators from smaller parties and Independents is likely to be crucial.
In a big political win for Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday held that the Shiv Sena faction led by him was the "real political party" when rival groups emerged in June 2022, and did not disqualify any MLA from the two camps, a verdict that adds another chapter in the Sena legacy war.
Nationalist Congress Party legislator and former Maharashtra minister Jitendra Awhad on Monday said he has decided to resign as member of the legislative assembly over "fake" cases registered against him by the police.
I will help, 100 per cent. Come (to me) with your parents, the MLA said.
The convicts were later airlifted to Kerala to lodge them in the Kannur central jail, official sources said.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said the alleged derogatory word used by his cabinet colleague and state agriculture minister Abdul Sattar was "wrong" and it cannot be defended even as protests against Sattar continued on the second consecutive day.
'It's better to part ways on a happy note than staying together nursing hard feelings.'
Sharad Pawar reckons that the NCP has value as a united, going concern, not as a gaggle of leaders in search of followers, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Against the strength of 288, the effective strength is 287, as there is one vacancy due to the death of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke last month.
Samajwadi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party on Monday announced entering into alliance for the coming Bihar assembly elections and claimed they were in talks with some other anti-BJP and anti-Congress regional parties.
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday questioned Pankaj Bhujbal, son of senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, in a money laundering case registered against him and others in connection with the construction of the new Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi and an another case.
'If they don't make Ajit Pawar chief minister, what can he do?'
Patil said the rebel MLAs were not opportunist and did everything for the party and their leader when they were not even in a position to do so.
The Maharashtra police has so far registered 141 cases in connection with the violence during the Maratha quota agitations and arrested 168 persons, state Director General of Police Rajnish Seth said on Wednesday.
All legislators of the Sena have been summoned to Mumbai and they will stay together till the polls on June 10.
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.
Amid the deepening political turmoil in Maharashtra, state Congress president Nana Patole accused Deputy CM and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar of harassing Congress legislators and ministers by stalling their development funds.
