A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday reserved till Thursday its order on the bail pleas of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and state minister Nawab Malik seeking the one-day relief to cast their votes in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections.
The newly-elected members couldn't take oath even one month after the results of the assembly polls were announced, due to political up and downs in the state.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Eknath Shinde-led faction if its move to go against the Shiv Sena party's wish to continue with the coalition in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) amounted to indiscipline leading to disqualification.
Shinde's counsel said that any delay in the floor test would cause more damage to the democratic polity.
In a huge embarrassment to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar, the United Progressive Alliance has lost the Khadakwasla assembly seat which had witnessed a by-election on October 13.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said she had suggested to the Congress that an advisory council comprising prominent personalities from civil society be set up to give a direction to the opposition, but rued that the plan did not materialise.
Pawar was the deputy CM twice in the 15-year regime of Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra during 1999-2014.
'The timing of the current episode involving Ajit Pawar is important. The episode has elements of deceit, betrayal and falsehood intertwined'
Seeking to consolidate its position in Rajya Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party is banking on independents for four additional seats and is seeking to capitalise on the infighting within the Congress in as many states in the June 10 biennial election.
Addressing a press conference, BJP leader and former Maharashtra minister Ashish Shelar taunted the Sena-NCP-Congress for "identification parade" of their MLAs and termed it as a cruel joke on the people of the state and democracy.
Shinde, Thackeray can't use party name and its symbol in the Andheri East assembly bypoll.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in the assembly polls on Thursday has put the party on a stronger wicket for the election for the post of President expected later this year.
Sharad Pawar-Ajit Pawar, Bal Thackeray-Raj Thackeray, Gopinath Munde-Dhananjay Munde. Troubled uncle-nephew relationships have rocked the boat of more than one party trying to steer its way through Maharashtra's troubled political waters with the crisis in the Nationalist Congress Party only the latest in the series.
The dramatic swearing-in of BJP's Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister and Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar as his deputy was preceded by days of talks between key party leaders and the junior Pawar, who was facing probe in corruption cases being investigated by central agencies.
High-profile figures Eknath Khadse and Vindo Tawde are missing from it.
Thackeray said he has to undergo a surgery on June 1 and after recovering from it, he would again address a public meeting.
Giving a new poll slogan of 'Khel Zatlo' in Goa, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said an anti-BJP alliance has already taken shape in the coastal state under the banner of her party TMC and now it is for the Congress to decide whether it wants to join the grouping ahead of elections to take on the saffron outfit.
'Why should we disclose how and from where we will get these numbers?'
While the BJP and ally Shiv Sena are yet to announce the seat-sharing pact for the polls, scheduled on October 21, the Amit Shah-led party believes it will be back to power with a thumping majority.
Dnyandev Wankhede, Sameer's father, has sought damages of Rs 1.25 crore from Malik and an order restraining him from making further false or incorrect statements against the Wankhede family.
In his address over Facebook on June 22, Thackeray had talked about his willingness to step down if the rebel MLAs come to Mumbai and make such a demand.
Amid nationwide protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said there are no detention centres in the state and Muslim citizens need not worry under his regime.
Fadnavis and his entourage, which included several senior BJP leaders, moved on without reacting to the jeers.
Addressing the Sena workers in Mumbai for the second consecutive day, he also said that doors of the state and party are closed for the rebels MLAs.
On Friday, Ajit caused a flutter in the party when he sent his resignation as the MLA from Baramati segment to Legislative Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade, which has been accepted.
Members of the Legislative Council asked how some former legislators could enter the Vidhan Bhavan premises amid COVID-19-related restrictions and sought a report on the matter.
'Can we slip through the cracks in the alliance and use the situation to our advantage?'
Thackeray and BJP legislature party leader Devendra Fadnavis lauded Patole's work as legislator and farmers' leader.
The alliance won 41 of the 48 seats leaving the Congress-NCP combine with just 5 seats.
With Narayan Rane, the BJP looks to expand its footprint in Mumbai and Konkan. But a perceived self-goal by him may have galvanised the restive Shiv Sena cadre and voters to coalesce around their party. Dhaval Kulkarni reports
'Look at the impropriety of the Anti-Corruption Bureau giving Ajit Pawar a clean chit!'
Thackeray, 59, became the third Sena leader after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane to occupy the top post.
Firing a fresh salvo at the Bharatiya Janata Party which had accused the Shiv Sena of paying only lip service to the cause of Hindutva, the latter's member of Parliament Sanjay Raut on Tuesday claimed that the Sena was the first party in the country to contest an election on the Hindutva plank.
'Our fight is against his political masters, the BJP and Devendra Fadnavis.'
The opposition is likely to put up a joint candidate for the July 18 presidential election despite not having numbers on its side, and consultations in this regard have already begun.
This is the third minister in the Vijayan cabinet to resign after the LDF government came to power in May 2016.
The ministry-making exercise took so long because many factors needed to be balanced. But now that it is in place, not everyone is happy with the resultant equation.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray's son Amit Thackeray on Sunday got married to his fiancee and fashion designer Mitali Borude at a hotel in Mumbai's central area of Lower Parel.
Failure to get elected by May 28, ie within six months of taking oath as CM, would have resulted into a Constitutional crisis for the Thackeray-led government, which was averted after the Election Commission announced elections to the nine seats in the Council.
While Ahmed Patel staved off the challenge to his Rajya Sabha membership, it leaves the scene wide open for the Gujarat assembly election this winter.
