Though the party has made no announcement, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister in the outgoing government, is being seen as the frontrunner for the key position.
Five months after a couple of Pawars jousted in an electoral battle in Baramati, two other Pawars will take on each other at the hustings on November 20, 2024.
Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal opposes including Marathas in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota, citing limited reservation available for existing OBC communities and warning of potential protests if their share is reduced.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, particularly before parliamentary, state assembly and local body elections. The court has agreed to hear a batch of petitions challenging the Election Commission's decision to undertake special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar.
A day before the assembly poll results, the Congress on Friday appointed observers for Maharashtra and Jharkhand to oversee the post-election scenarios.
Confirming the development, Leader of Opposition in the legislative council Ambadas Danve of the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray said the boycott is a mark of protest against a "dishonest government".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of Nationalist Democratic Alliance-ruled states and prominent personalities from industry and Bollywood on Thursday attended the grand swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra Chief Minister in Mumbai.
In an apparent dig at Ajit, Pawar senior said if someone keeps saying he will take everything, people may not say anything but will disapprove of it.
'I not only came back, but returned after breaking two parties'
After Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar announced that the sale deed executed by his son Parth's firm for a prime land in Pune has been scrapped, officials said the company will have to cough up double the stamp duty, which comes to Rs 42 crore, to get the transaction cancelled.
The Sharad Pawar faction quoted lines from a popular poem 'Tutari' written by Jnanpith awardee Kusumagraj.
'For the first time in a hundred years, the army has been taken out of the political equation. And for the first time ever, there is only one man who calls the shots. Not even Mao had this kind of power.'
Ajit Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party, which is in an alliance with pro-Hindutva BJP and the Shiv Sena, noted Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh) and Nitish Kumar (Bihar) -- all secular politicians -- aligned with the BJP for the sake of development of their respective states.
"The decision has been taken. The ropes of retreat have been cut," Mushrif said
Embattled Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Dhananjay Munde on Thursday said he has been diagnosed with Bell's Palsy, a condition that causes sudden weakness in face muscles, which had severely affected his ability to speak.
Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who is a part of India's diplomatic mission abroad, on Monday said it is 'distressing' that people back home are calculating political allegiances and asked if it is 'so difficult to be patriotic'.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has opted not to grant tickets to eight MLAs, followed by Congress which replaced five MLAs.
Mumbai police are investigating threat mails received at two police stations, threatening to blow up the car of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The IP address of the sender is being tracked and all angles are being probed.
It isn't easy for a girl from Gopal Nagar to chase a dream. But Pinky was extremely determined. A force unto herself, she was going to go places. Literally. Till it abruptly ended one morning on the tarmac at Baramati airport.
Tharoor also said he is honoured by the invitation of the government to lead an all-party delegation to five key capitals to present the nation's point of view on recent events.
The MLA physically blocked the police vehicle, demanding Deshmukh's release, alleging biased action by the law enforcement officials.
Neelam Shinde from Maharashtra's Satara was critically injured in the accident on February 14 and has been in a coma at a hospital since then.
The next meeting of opposition parties will be held in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18, the Congress announced on Monday, and asserted their resolve to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party has been strengthened by the 'Mumbai operations' of the 'BJP washing machine'.
Days before the first vote for the Lok Sabha polls is cast, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the rival Nationalist Congress Party factions led by party founder Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to abide by its directions on the use of symbols, party names and disclaimers in publicity material for the elections.
Sudhakar Badgujar, the leader in question, denied the allegations while speaking at a news conference in Nashik.
Now, the state has an unprecedented situation where there are six major political players with three on each side.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party, has said that helming the NCP away from the shadows of his uncle and founder Sharad Pawar after the split is a huge responsibility.
The high-level committee on 'one nation, one election' approached 62 parties out which 47 responded -- 32 in support of holding elections simultaneously, 15 against it.
Besides disclosing in their affidavits, candidates have to prominently declare criminal cases they are facing, if any, thrice in newspapers in print as well on television, he said, adding that political parties too have to publish within three days of nomination why a candidate with criminal background was selected. "You (political parties) have to tell the public whether you did not get any (other) candidate and why was it necessary to select them (those with criminal background)," he said.
'If all of us (all the 57 Shiv Sena MLAs) stand together we can change the dynamic. We are not afraid of anyone.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti coloured Maharashtra a vivid saffron on Saturday as it swept aside the Maha Vikas Aghadi for a landslide win while the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) retained Jharkhand, voters in both states giving the parties in power an emphatic thumbs up.
Ahead of the elections, a lot had been spoken of the large number of leaders defecting from the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena. In fact, a month before the polls, more than two dozen Congress-NCP leaders quit and joined the BJP in hopes of riding high on the Narendra Modi wave. While for some the shift has brought in good fortune, for others it has brought loss. Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com analyses how these defectors have fared.
Scores of Nationalist Congress Party workers refused to leave the venue, where Pawar earlier in the day announced his decision during the launch of his revised autobiography.
Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday said all the party rebels contesting against the official candidates of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have been suspended for six years.
Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate is under fire after a video surfaced allegedly showing him playing rummy on his phone during a legislative session. The opposition accuses the government of being insensitive to farmers' issues.
An unknown person sent a letter to his office in Nashik informing him about a contract to kill him.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance on Saturday retained power in Maharashtra, pocketing a whopping 230 of the 288 assembly seats, as the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi's dream of wresting power fizzled, with the opposition combine managing to garner just 50 seats.
Maharashtra Revenue Minister assures investigation into an alleged land deal involving a company linked to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's son, Parth Pawar, after receiving a formal complaint.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized the Congress party following the NDA's victory in the Bihar assembly elections, accusing them of divisive politics and highlighting the rejection of casteism and communalism by the people of Bihar.
It asked the Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led faction to issue a public notice in newspapers in English, Hindi and Marathi saying that the 'clock' symbol is sub-judice and its use is subject to adjudication.
