'Ajit Pawar is trying to sideline us; he is trying to be in the BJP's good books at our cost.'
Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20. Counting of votes will be held on June 4.
'We can't sit back clutching our memories of the riots. The country, the future of our children are more important.' Jyoti Punwani reports on an unusual election meeting in Mumbai.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) of Uddhav Thackeray has denounced in the Supreme Court the "highly improper" meeting between Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and state legislative assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar, barely three days before the deadline set by the apex court for the latter to decide cross-petitions filed by rival Sena factions seeking disqualification of several of each other's MLAs.
"Rahul Gandhi is a traitor; such a traitor should be punished and should be hanged ...and shot," said BJP MLA from Baytoo in Barmer Kailash Choudhary.
'People will teach a lesson to those who are compromising it for the sake of power and money.'
His remarks come amid BJP ministers and legislators quitting the party in UP ahead of the crucial Assembly polls in the state.
Ahead of the floor test in Maharashtra, what is more crucial is who becomes the pro-tem speaker. And bagging this post is part of the BJP's plan to retain power, reports Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com/
In the wake of a political row in Maharashtra over the recitation of Hanuman Chalisa, the Shiv Sena on Monday hit out at the BJP and said the Hindutva ideology is a culture and not chaos.
'In this assembly election, Muslims here will vote for one who works, but also one who safeguards their identity.' 'Their existence is more important they feel, than a faulty light meter. So yes, a Muslim representative will make a difference.'
NCP MLA Kandhal Jadeja said his party has decided to support BJP candidate.
Though the election officials were yet to make formal announcement, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani informed the media about the victory.
The Andheri East bypoll is the first after Shinde and the BJP unseated the MVA government in June.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and three others have filed nominations for the post of president in the Mumbai Cricket Association's elections scheduled on June 17, the MCA announced on Thursday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday said he had been suppressed for a long time and the rebellion led by him was a fallout of the unfair treatment meted out to him, an apparent reference to his old association with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
While Fadnavis has admitted that the letter was sent to him in good faith, he said that he would have to discuss with the party leadership before taking a decision.
The Nationalist Congress Party is likely to field former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma's daughter Agatha K Sangma to contest the byelections to the Tura Lok Sabha seat in Meghalaya. The byelection, scheduled to be held on May 22, has been necessitated after P A Sangma quit the Lok Sabha after being elected as MLA in the 60-member Meghalaya Legislative Assembly on March 8.
Several prominent opposition leaders including Nationalist Congress Party's Sharad Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah will share the dais at a rally being organised by Indian National Lok Dal in Haryana's Fatehabad on Sunday.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Haribhau Bagade was on Wednesday unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Maharashtra assembly.
Political temperatures were soaring in several states that could see close contests, with parties trying to keep their flock together and trading accusations of poaching of MLAs.
"Outsiders who want to form the government in the state and are restless after losing power may try but the alliance will continue. People may try to break the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the NCP but they would not succeed," he said.
'If you look at the average age of all our candidates, you will notice that their average age is between 35 and 40. It is a kind of revolution that the MNS is bringing in Maharashtra.'
The government is expected to have a smooth sailing in the floor test, a Vidhan Bhawan official told PTI.
Fadnavis on Saturday said the ruling Eknath Shinde-BJP coalition in Maharashtra is a legitimate government.
Mishra and AAP's women's wing chief Richa Pandey joined the BJP at the party office in New Delhi in the presence of vice-president Shyam Jaju and Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari, former Union minister Vijay Goel and leader of opposition in the assembly Vijender Gupta.
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.
Waiting to be reinstated as a member of Parliament after his disqualification following conviction in a criminal case, Nationalist Congress Party leader Mohammed Faizal on Friday said the Lok Sabha secretariat was very quick to disqualify, as in his and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's case, but very slow to reinstate.
A potpourri of political parties are in the fray in Goa.
Thackeray met the legislators to apprise them of the government formation process and meetings of Congress-Nationalist Congress Party leaders in Delhi.
High-profile figures Eknath Khadse and Vindo Tawde are missing from it.
A division bench led by Justice Nitin Jamdar said the MPCB order was set aside for being 'disproportionate' and noted the order was passed in a 'hasty manner'.
'The BJP used Shinde and Shiv Sena to decimate Uddhav Thackeray, humiliate him by taking away his party as well as party symbol.' 'The Shiv Sena and Eknath Shinde have served their purpose.'
Pawar said Nitish took the decision anticipating the crisis the BJP was planning to bring on.
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 Leader of Opposition in the assembly also told an interviewer that he will "100 per cent" like to be chief minister of Maharashtra.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction on Tuesday claimed the Bharatiya Jantea Party candidate Murji Patel withdrew from the Andheri East Assembly bypoll contest after realising that his defeat was imminent.
Raut claimed Navneet Rana received a loan of Rs 80 lakh from Yusuf Lakdawala, who was arrested in a money laundering case.
Kejriwal said that the ordinance must be defeated collectively in Parliament where it is likely to come up for voting as a law in the forthcoming session.
Six non-Congress parties and an independent MLA constitute the MDA government.
With just over a month to go for assembly elections in Goa, political observers feel the Congress may upset the Bharatiya Janata Party's plans for retaining power in the coastal state, but appear less enthused about the Trinamool Congress, whose entry has added colour to the poll campaign.
