'The people preferred Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar...'
In doing so, it further cemented the community's determination to support the opposition. But at the same time, it consolidated its Hindu vote bank like never before.
An alleged attack on a Marathi-speaking family by a government employee in Thane district sparked outrage in the Maharashtra Assembly, where the BJP-led government assured justice and condemned the incident. Opposition parties demanded immediate action against the accused, Akhilesh Shukla, and his wife, who have been arrested. The incident has raised concerns about discrimination against Marathi people and fueled tensions in the state.
After the joint opposition protests at Jantar Mantar, Gandhi drove with Pawar to the latter's 6, Janpath residence.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Tuesday said his party did not 'surrender' but took a step back in the seat-sharing negotiations with its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners as the talks could not go on indefinitely.
Pawar is expected to play a crucial role in deciding the future course or action of the opposition alliance.
Both of them were from regular families and had no criminal history, the police said on Sunday.
Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe Patil lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and questioned the need for Rane to remain part of the cabinet.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, will not be restored even if Congress stalwart and late PM Indira Gandhi comes down from heaven.
In a press release, BJP Nagpur Rural president Sudhakar Kohale said his party had won 238 sarpanch posts in 361 gram panchayats, while the Congress said the Maha Vikas Aghadi had been victorious on 223 posts.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Patole asserted there are no disagreements within the MVA, adding that discussions on seat-sharing were underway and would conclude soon.
Chief ministers of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha on Wednesday evening condoled the demise of Tata Group's chairman emeritus and veteran industrialist Ratan Tata, and said his legacy will live on forever.
Given the possibilities that next year's assembly elections could throw up, Stalin told the state assembly that an interim report had to be submitted by January 2026. The outcomes may well find its way into the DMK's poll manifesto, thus seeking to keep the electoral focus still on the BJP-ruled Centre and Prime Minister Modi, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has held a meeting with Union Home Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah in Delhi.
Three policemen have been suspended for alleged negligence in duty, taking cognisance of videos in which a sharpshooter of Lawrence Bishnoi gang interacts with reporters while in police custody and comments on Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique's killing, officials said on Saturday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's reverses in Maharashtra in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls were due to poor vote transfer from the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut also said "Pawar will attend the meeting in Bengaluru tomorrow morning."
The assembly polls in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase while Jharkhand polls will be held in two phases, the Election Commission of India announced on Tuesday.
Amravati MLA Ravi Rana has claimed Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray head and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray will join the Modi government in 15 days after the Lok Sabha election results come out on Tuesday.
Thackeray said that Ajit Pawar should pay his uncle the same kind of attention he pays outside.
Veteran Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan has said that his party has agreed not to raise the issue of V D Savarkar since the three Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners hold different views on the late Hindutva ideologue.
In a veiled warning to Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange who has announced a march to Mumbai, Ajit Pawar said nobody will be allowed to take law into his hands.
Shooters involved in the killing of Nationalist Congress Party leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique learnt to handle firearms by watching videos on YouTube at a rented house in Kurla area in Mumbai, officials said on Wednesday.
Here are some instances of celebrities coming in the crosshairs of the underworld with cases of extortion, threats and even a killing.
Ahead of being sworn in as the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra third time in four years, Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar had called a meeting of party leaders and MLAs at his official residence in Mumbai.
If Marathas get blanket Kunbi OBC certificates, there will be no separate identity of the Maratha community in Maharashtra, state minister and senior OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal said on Wednesday amid the quota row.
Pawar tried to discourage party leader and state minister Dharmarao Baba Aatram's daughter Bhagyashri from crossing over to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP-SP.
Shinde rubbished reports that he was disappointed for not getting a second term as CM despite the ruling Mahayuti alliance winning a thumping victory under his leadership.
Leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have decided to raise the NEET issue in both houses of Parliament on Friday and members will give notices in this regard, sources have said.
He urged people to ignore politicians who only make speeches and instead, vote for those who work.
They slammed the Union and state governments for the collapse, with Uddhav Thackeray calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi's apology as one "smacking of arrogance", while Sharad Pawar said the episode was an example of corruption.
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.
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.
Eknath Shinde, a former auto-rickshaw driver, has emerged as a key leader in Maharashtra, culminating in his appointment as Deputy Chief Minister. His journey from a Shiv Sena rebel to a dominant figure in the state's politics is a testament to his resilience and political acumen. He gained popularity for his pro-people stance and his contributions to infrastructure projects and social welfare schemes, solidifying his position as a powerful player in the Mahayuti alliance.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, the first elected government in the Union Territory since 2019 when Article 370 was abrogated.
Raut said such friendly fights should happen on all 48 seats in Maharashtra as well as in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Patole, the MLA from Sakoli in Bhandara district, had resigned as speaker of Maharashtra assembly on Thursday.
An impressive performance in Jharkhand and, especially, Maharashtra assembly polls next month by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will lay to rest the doubts over the party's political dominance after its underwhelming performance in the Lok Sabha polls and strike a body blow to the Opposition.
'There is no grain of truth in the speculation that the Congress is thinking of contesting the Lok Sabha elections without taking Sharad Pawar along'
Maharashtra deputy CM Ajit Pawar on Monday said he is not bothered about his criticism by others and is only concerned about what key leaders of the ruling Mahayuti alliance say.
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