The prime minister may go for new faces with an eye on grooming younger leaders while also factoring in caste and regional balances
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to interfere with an interim order of the Bombay high court by which the decision of Maharashtra government to provide 16 per cent reservation to Marathas in jobs and educational institutions was stayed.
Ahead of the Union Cabinet expansion on Wednesday, several Union Ministers, including Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar resigned from their posts.
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.
Sparks flew on the first day of the debate on the no-trust motion moved by the Congress with the Opposition on Tuesday asserting that it was forced to do so to break Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'maun vrat' (vow of silence) on Manipur and the treasury benches hitting back saying it was a no-trust vote against a 'poor person's son' who has worked for the welfare of the people.
Holding the status of the richest municipal corporation in the country, BMC will witness competitive elections with 2,275 candidates in the fray for 227 seats. Here are some famous faces flashing their fingers!
'Through this one step, and more steps that follow, log judte jayenge (more people will come together); I'm sure of that.'
'Getting Brijbhushan to rake up Thackeray's anti-north Indian stand is the BJP's way of cutting Raj Thackeray to size.' 'Could just one MP have stopped Raj Thackeray's Ayodhya tour?'
Following are the possible contenders for the post of Maharashtra chief minister. We request our readers to take the poll at the end of this list.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari will head a committee which will reach out to social and volunteer organisations while his Cabinet colleague Sushma Swaraj will head a group that will produce literature for the polls.
It is curtains down for Maharashtra and Haryana assembly polls. Here's a look at political biggies, who made it and who didn't.
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.
With an eye on upcoming assembly elections after the drubbing in Lok Sabha polls, Maharashtra's Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government will take a decision next week on the Rane committee's recommendation for 20 per cent quota for Marathas in government jobs and educational institutions.
'The BJP's solo aim in Mumbai and Maharashtra is to finish off the Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar's NCP.'
'Fourteen lives have been lost; the BMC should be charged with murder for this loss of lives,' says Congress MLA Nitesh Rane.
'Time and again, through their actions, often more covert than overt, the BJP has shown that it is a power-hungry party and its hunger isn't getting satiated sitting in the Opposition.'
"I thought why not the son of a person who had contributed for Maharashtra should become the CM and I insisted Uddhav Thackeray to become the chief minister. Fadnavis had worked with Uddhav so he knows how Uddhav is. He should stop questioning repeatedly about how Uddhav became CM," the NCP chief said.
Studied silence at high command won't help party revival to face assembly polls. Sanjay Jog reports.
The Congress in Maharashtra is in disarray. Prithviraj Chavan tried to clean up the party and its image, but there is a lack of faith in him within the party and outside, says N Suresh.
'The impression that Uddhav saheb is naram (soft or not-so-aggressive), anukool (congenial), manmilau (amiable) is true.' 'But he is Balasaheb's son. So, aggression comes naturally to him.'
Congress leaders feel party President Sonia Gandhi is withdrawing from centre-stage, but without her son filling that void, it could be continued chaos for her party.
As per the final tally, of the total 81 seats, the Congress won 73, followed by the BJP which bagged six seats. The Shiv Sena just about managed to open its account with one seat, and an independent candidate won one seat.
With an eye on assembly elections after severe drubbing in Lok Sabha polls, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government on Wednesday approved 16 per cent reservation for Marathas and five per cent for Muslims in government jobs and education institutions.
BJP made inroads into the Congress and NCP strongholds, winning 851 seats. Shiv Sena won 514, NCP 638, Congress 643, MNS 16, BSP 9, unrecognised parties 119, local coalitions 384, CPM 12 and Independents 324 seats.
The couple had approached the HC seeking that the FIR registered against them by the Khar police in Mumbai on the charge of deterring a police officer from discharging her official duties be quashed.
About 24 or 31 per cent ministers have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, robbery etc.
Several Union ministers, including Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar resigned.
The assembly by-poll elections yielded good results for BJP allies.
Non-BJP chief ministers are retaliating. If the Centre can use its agencies to threaten, intimidate and jail its rivals, so can they. The fightback will get more intense, observes Shekhar Gupta.
L Murugan, 44, is the only newly-sworn minister who is not a member of Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha.
As the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena refused to blink, the opposition, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party are keen to take the benefit, reports Sanjay Jog.
Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha MP Nitin Gadkari, late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan's daughter Poonam, former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Vijaysinh Mohite Patil are a few of the 29 new entrants to the 16th Lok Sabha among the 48 MPs from Maharashtra.
'When Uddhav Thackeray went in for surgery, he had presumed that Eknath Shinde would have looked after the Shiv Sena for him during this period.' 'He did not imagine that Shinde would use this period to backstab him.'
The Bombay High Court on Friday stayed implementation of the controversial decision of the erstwhile Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra to provide reservation to Marathas in government jobs and educational institutions announced ahead of the state assembly election.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's leadership has come under attack. Although the party tried to dismiss the rebellion brewing in Congress-ruled states of Assam in the east and Maharashtra in the west, no one is convinced.
Party insiders say the high command could consider replacing state chief Manikrao Thakre, reports Sanjay Jog.
'Destabilising the Yediyurappa government is not a cakewalk.' 'If he is destabilised, then the BJP will have problems in Karnataka.'
The reshuffle had politics at its heart, so the biggest complement of new ministers, both Cabinet rank and below, came from UP, which will see assembly elections in a few months.
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.
In a show of strength, Bharatiya Janata Party bulldozed the opposition - the Nationalist Congress Party, Congress and estranged ally Shiv Sena -- to wrest power in the state.
