After his death, Sharad Pawar and other leaders of his party claimed that merger talks were in advanced stages and Ajit Pawar had finalised February 12 as the date to announce reunification between the rival factions.
A public exchange of open letters between Congress leaders Mani Shankar Aiyar and Shashi Tharoor reveals a significant rift over foreign policy, particularly concerning Israel and the Sabarimala temple issue.
After weeks of negotiations over seat-sharing, the Mahayuti alliance appears to have broken down ahead of municipal corporation elections in Latur and Jalna, with partners deciding to contest the January 15 polls independently.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has accused the BJP leadership of being the mastermind behind Sunetra Pawar's appointment as Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister, alleging that certain NCP leaders also desire to prevent the unification of the two NCP factions.
The death of a close associate of jailed godman Ashok Kharat in a car accident has prompted suspicion from opposition leaders, who question whether the incident was orchestrated to suppress facts in the probe against Kharat.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar announced that his party, the NCP, is in discussions with the Shiv Sena regarding seat sharing for the upcoming Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic polls. This comes as alliances blur in the state-level elections.
Counting of votes begins in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, and West Bengal, with significant implications for regional and national parties.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi felicitated senior BJP worker Makhanlal Sarkar at a swearing-in ceremony in West Bengal. Sarkar, 98, is an early grassroots figure associated with the nationalist movement. Suvendu Adhikari took oath as the state's first BJP Chief Minister after defeating Mamata Banerjee.
Despite forging an alliance with the faction led by his uncle, Nationalist Congress Party chief and Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday failed to protect the party's traditional bastions of Pune and neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad, as the Bharatiya Janata Party decimated both the NCPs in the municipal corporation elections.
Maharashtra minister Narhari Zirwal is embroiled in controversy after a video featuring him and a transgender person went viral, prompting calls for his removal from office.
'The real fault line in Assam is not Hindu versus Muslim. It is Assamese versus Bengali -- and within that, the specific anxiety about undocumented Bangladeshi settlers claiming land and altering the demographic balance of the state.'
Despite their top leaders frowning upon such practices, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and Congress came together in the Achalpur Municipal Council in Maharashtra's Amravati district to ensure unopposed election of various committee chairpersons.
Political and business leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Gautam Adani, gathered at Sharad Pawar's residence for a pre-birthday dinner.
Sunetra Pawar, wife of late NCP leader Ajit Pawar, was sworn in as Maharashtra's first woman deputy Chief Minister after being elected as the leader of the NCP legislature wing.
Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar Maharashtra unit president Shashikant Shinde on Saturday said his party chief Sharad Pawar and other leaders had no prior knowledge about the decision that Nationalist Congress Party's Sunetra Pawar would take oath as the state deputy chief minister.
The Congress won elections to the Latur Municipal Corporation (LMC) in central Maharashtra on Friday, bagging a clear majority with 43 seats in the 70-member body, leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party a distant second with 22 seats.
Chinese leaders, including its generals, will have to weigh whether they can win a war if they ever attack Taiwan and if at all, can they sustain the subsequent devastation, notes Rup Narayan Das.
Former Union minister Dinesh Trivedi has been appointed as India's next High Commissioner to Bangladesh, signalling efforts to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries.
Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLC Eknath Khadse and his daughter have been booked for allegedly cheating an elderly woman by assuring a sugar factory on her land and taking its possession with the help of forged papers in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district.
The process to merge the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar and the Nationalist Congress Party may now face a roadblock due to the death of Ajit Pawar, said Sharad Pawar on Saturday.
Sunetra Pawar, wife of the late Ajit Pawar, has been appointed as the first woman Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, marking a new chapter for the NCP and presenting her with the challenge of leading the party.
Jay Pawar, son of the late Ajit Pawar, is seeking a thorough investigation into the plane crash that killed his father, citing possible serious lapses and demanding a ban on the aviation company involved.
The Chhattisgarh High Court has sentenced Amit Jogi, son of former chief minister Ajit Jogi, to life imprisonment for the 2003 murder of NCP leader Ramavatar Jaggi, overturning a previous acquittal.
'The entire Pawar family -- Sunetra Vahini, Jay and Parth Pawar (Ajit Pawar's sons), Sharad Pawar, his daughter Supriya Sule -- will sit together and decide how to move forward.'
The ruling NDA alliance has secured a majority in the Rajya Sabha elections, winning key seats in Bihar, Odisha, and Haryana, while other candidates were elected unopposed across multiple states. The elections were marked by cross-voting allegations and political maneuvering.
A Mumbai court has accepted the closure report submitted by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam case, giving a clean chit to Ajit Pawar and other accused.
Hopefully, the BJP will realise that it's the right time for parivartan (change) in its polarising poll strategies after achieving the impossible-looking goal of winning West Bengal, argues Sheela Bhatt.
The last rites of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who died in a plane crash, will be held with full state honors in Baramati. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are expected to attend the funeral.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his gratitude to the people of Maharashtra for supporting the NDA's agenda in the recent municipal corporation elections, which saw the BJP-led alliance secure significant wins.
The BJP and Shiv Sena are leading in the early trends of the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls in Maharashtra. Counting began on Monday morning for elections to 12 Zilla Parishads and 125 Panchayat Samitis.
Pangarkar had contested as an Independent candidate from electoral ward No. 13. He defeated his nearest rival, Raosaheb Dhoble of the BJP.
Senior NCP leader Hasan Mushrif admitted that Ajit Pawar was holding talks with NCP (SP) leaders on the merger of the two factions before his death.
Several ministers within Maharashtra's ruling Mahayuti alliance have voiced criticism regarding Sunetra Pawar's appointment as Deputy Chief Minister shortly after her husband, Ajit Pawar's, death, leading to disapproval from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Multi-cornered contests, deep divisions within the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, reflected in the Congress and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray fighting separately and lack of a robust plan among its rivals helped the Bharatiya Janata Party in Mumbai polls as it looks poised to rule India's richest civic body for the first time.
A flight attendant from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, was among those killed in a plane crash that also claimed the life of an NCP leader and three others. The news has brought deep mourning to her native village.
AIMIM leader Imtiaz Jaleel supports colleague Sahar Shaikh's controversial statement about turning Mumbra green, claiming the party intends to do the same across Maharashtra. This follows Shaikh's victory in Thane civic polls and subsequent backlash over her remarks.
Ajit Pawar granted Rediff an interview in Baramati at 6 am. Why? 'To be a successful politician one needs to sleep less, and I never sleep for more than 4 hours' Ajit Pawar told Syed Firdaus Ashraf as Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff captured the encounter on his camera.
The Bombay High Court criticized the shifting allegiances of NCP members in the Ambernath Municipal Council, referring to it as "globe-trotting," while addressing orders related to alliances within the civic body.
After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stated that the truth would not emerge through existing mechanisms and called for a probe, several opposition leaders including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge backed her demand.
A newly-elected AIMIM corporator's victory speech, vowing to 'paint Mumbra green,' has sparked controversy, with rivals questioning its religious overtones. The corporator has since clarified her remarks.
