'If the Maha Vikas Aghadi thinks that they have won 30 (Lok Sabha) seats and that would translate to winning 180 assembly seats they would be living in a fool's paradise.'
The total number of arrests in the sensational case now stands at nine, while three key persons are on the run.
Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls, Pangarkar joined the Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Friday in the presence of party leader and former state minister Arjun Khotkar.
Chaudhari was released from Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai after completion of formalities, including furnishing of a cash bail of Rs 1 lakh, his lawyer Mohan Tekavde said.
Apart from recruiting 18,000 women in state's police force, Thackeray said all female police stations will also be established in Maharashtra.
The Haryana victory will be a morale booster for the Bharatiya Janata Party and increase its bargaining power in the Mahayuti's seat-sharing talks for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, according to political analysts.
Candidates from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) opposition alliance in Maharashtra have decided to seek verification of the EVM-Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) units in their segments, following their defeat in the recent assembly polls. The move comes after several losing candidates, including those from the Shiv Sena (UBT), alleged that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) might have been tampered with. The MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP, lost to the Mahayuti coalition, which includes the Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP. The MVA candidates are seeking verification based on a Supreme Court ruling that allows for checking the burnt memory/microcontroller in 5% of EVMs after the announcement of results.
The senior BJP leader said voters have always rejected coalition politics as the political parties forming such an alliance don't have any policy or leadership.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar, and the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Wednesday announced to contest 85 seats each in Maharashtra assembly elections even as deliberations to seal a final seat-sharing pact are still underway.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday held a meeting of Nationalist Congress Party MLAs following his party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
Nine of his supporters were also arrested, said a police official.
Mumbai police had arrested Gurmail Baljit Singh (23), a resident of Haryana and Dharmaraj Rajesh Kashyap (19), from Uttar Pradesh, whereas there one aide, who was at the spot during the firing, fled from the spot.
Cross-voting was held during the Rajya Sabha elections and the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls last month.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have intensified their investigations against Gaurav Mehta, a suspect in a Bitcoin Ponzi scam, following allegations that politicians may have been involved in using cryptocurrency to influence Maharashtra assembly polls. The ED searched Mehta's residence in Raipur and seized computers and digital devices. The CBI summoned him to appear before investigators. The ED is probing Mehta's potential links to politicians, politically exposed persons, and bureaucrats as part of its money laundering probe. The allegations came after BJP released purported voice notes suggesting that Congress and NCP leaders were attempting to use cryptocurrency for election campaigning. Both parties denied the claims, calling the voice notes fake.
Kumar also hinted that the Maharashtra elections could be held after Diwali.
The Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has nominated Rajya Sabha MP Milind Deora from Worli for the upcoming assembly elections.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar on Monday said he was not unhappy with his party, nor had it neglected him.
Bawankule said that the BJP has always respected Matoshri (Uddhav Thackeray's home) and its legacy.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said the Maharashtra government's Ladki Bahin scheme, introduced to provide financial assistance to women, could affect the timely payment of subsidies in other sectors.
In the coming assembly election, negotiations over seat-sharing will be as important as actual outreach to voters.
'Maharaj was never a plunderer. He never bothered a common man.'
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the ruling Mahayuti in Maharashtra will retain power with full majority and a decision on who will be the chief minister will be taken by the alliance partners after the state polls.
With this, the Shiv Sena has become the second major political party to release its list of candidates for the state assembly polls. Its ally BJP released a list of 99 candidates on Sunday.
Owaisi said 324 farmers have died by suicide in "Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) division", but no one is talking about it.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's bags were checked by poll personnel on Wednesday while he was onboard a helicopter to travel for poll campaign, and the Nationalist Congress Party leader said such measures are needed to ensure free and fair elections.
Different angles behind the killing were being probed, but the police will talk about it later, Fadnavis, who holds charge of the state home department, told reporters in Gondia district.
The ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra is heavily banking upon a six to 10 per cent shift in voters -- mostly women -- in its favour to return to power with anywhere between 160 and 170 assembly seats, say four MLAs belonging to Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena.
The central government, in its typical sledgehammer style, has unleashed the might of its investigative agencies like the Enforcement Directorate against NCP and Shiv Sena leaders.
'Slogans like 'Ek hai toh safe hai' and 'Batenge toh katenge' resonated with voters.'
The principal opposition party though appeared content securing 99 of the 543 seats in the 2024 national elections as against its all-time low of 44 in 2014 and then 52 in 2019.
Bhujbal took a veiled attack at Sharad Pawar for the opposition's boycott of an all-party meeting on the Maratha quota issue.
The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Tuesday fielded Milind Narvekar, a close aide of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, in the biennial elections to 11 seats from the legislative council, taking the number of candidates in the fray to 12.
Three Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have threatened to contest as Independents from Jalna in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls after the seat went to Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena as part of the Mahayuti's seat-sharing arrangement.
The development comes a day after a government resolution (GR) was issued, in which the state administration ordered disbursal of Rs 10 crore funds for strengthening the state Waqf Board.
'That was my mistake.' 'Gautam Adani was not involved in forming the Maharashtra government.' 'Adani was not there in the meeting.' 'The meeting was at his guest house and we were sitting in his guest house.'
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Wednesday slammed ally Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray's MP Sanjay Raut for his remarks on Haryana poll outcome, stressing that accusations against Congress won't be tolerated.
At the state level, Pawar appealed to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the quota dispute.
Both Lawrence and Anmol Bishnoi have been named as wanted accused in the April 14 firing incident outside the Bollywood actor Salman Khan's Galaxy Apartment in Mumbai's Bandra area.
Pawar also said it is the moral responsibility of the major Opposition parties in Maharashtra to protect in the state assembly polls the interests of smaller allies, which were part of the coalition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
'If there is Sabka Saath, then why are you only talking about Hindu-Muslim?'
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