'Maharaj was never a plunderer. He never bothered a common man.'
The Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in Pune, India, has stopped taking deposits from patients at the emergency department after a pregnant woman died after being turned away for non-payment. The hospital faced intense criticism following the incident, which involved the wife of a BJP MLC's personal secretary. The woman was shifted to another hospital where she died after delivering twins.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said the Mahayuti allies have agreed to conduct a 'performance audit' of ministers during their tenure.
Zeeshan Siddiqui lashed out at the Congress over its treatment of minorities and accused it of being 'communal'.
He said that in a 288-member assembly, the government will not lose its majority mark, even if 16 MLAs are disqualified.
"Politics of development is being backed by a man of development. When a deserving party worker gets a secondary role, such things happen," Shinde said about Ajit Pawar, the nephew of Sharad Pawar who is known to display rebellious streaks.
What some of our leaders were up to on Tuesday.
The political and ideological differences between the Congress and Shashi Tharoor is no longer a matter of whispers.
The deputy chief minister called for the "strictest of strict" action against perpetrators of such crimes.
Walmik Karad, an aide to Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party minister Dhananjay Munde, was on Tuesday charged under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and remanded to 14 days of judicial custody in an extortion case allegedly linked to the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh.
The Sonia Gandhi-led party is a constituent of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition in the state, which is led by the Shiv Sena and also comprises the NCP.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has made it clear that it will not campaign for ally Nationalist Congress Party's candidate Nawab Malik in the assembly polls due to his alleged links with fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, but has no objection to his daughter's candidature.
Some MLAs (from Shinde bloc) have been sending messages that they want to "seek forgiveness from 'Matoshree'.
The Ajit Pawar faction is the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Election Commission announced on Tuesday, ending months of speculation over the factional fight with his party founder and uncle Sharad Pawar.
"Our family has around 120 to 125 members, including small kids, and in such a big family, if one person puts forth a different opinion, it does not signify a split," Sule told reporters in Pune on Wednesday.
The Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, will decide whether only the chief minister and deputy CMs will take the oath of office on December 5, or whether ministers will also be sworn in. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for the evening at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending. While BJP sources have indicated that Devendra Fadnavis is the frontrunner for the chief minister's post, the BJP legislature party leader is yet to be appointed. NCP chief Ajit Pawar has stated that the chief minister will be from the BJP, with deputy CMs from the Shiv Sena and NCP. The Mahayuti alliance secured a landslide victory in the assembly elections, winning 230 seats out of 288. The government formation has been delayed due to disagreements on the chief minister's position.
The Congress party has not only distanced itself from Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan but also made him clarify his recent statement that the party's decision to give the home ministry to the Nationalist Congress Party -- its ally in the state -- was a mistake. Both the central leadership and the state unit of the Congress preferred not to offer any comment but indicated that it was Chavan's personal remark that came after the July 13 blasts.
'The name Shiv Sena was given by my grandfather, how can the EC change the name?'
Uddhav Thackeray, who played the bold gambit of taking on the ally Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019 and forged an unlikely alliance with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, was on Saturday left struggling to make sense of his party's rout in the Maharashtra assembly elections.
Sule said the intra-family duel in the Lok Sabha polls will not waver her respect for Sunetra Pawar as she is her "elder brother's wife and like a mother".
The opposition has raised questions regarding Jagdeep Dhankhar's sudden resignation as the vice president, with concerns about the reasons behind his decision and its timing.
'Nitish may take such a decision because he was the first person who was with the INDIA front.' 'He went back only because he did not get proper encouragement from the Congress.' 'Nitish will take a decision provided there is a strong alternative.' 'If he feels ours is a weak coalition, he will not come.' 'Then, this government will continue for five years.'
The three gunmen involved in the killing of Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique in Mumbai practiced firing near a waterfall in adjoining Raigad district before executing the murder, police officials said on Tuesday citing their investigation.
NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has thrown his weight behind villagers in Solapur, Maharashtra, who are demanding a repoll using ballot papers after raising doubts about the accuracy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Pawar met with villagers in Markadwadi, where a police case was filed against over 200 people for attempting to conduct an unauthorized re-election. He expressed support for their concerns, claiming that the villagers were "the ones who thought of conducting polls using ballot papers." Pawar criticized the police action, calling it a restriction on the villagers' right to assemble and vowing to raise the issue with the Chief Minister, the state Chief Electoral Officer, the Prime Minister, and the Election Commission of India.
'The reason I am not anxious about the opponent facing me in the front (Ajit Pawar) is because of who is standing behind me like a rock (Sharad Pawar).'
The priority now is to work out a comprehensive plan for government formation.
Voters, it is said, get the government they deserve. We will soon see what voters in Maharashtra choose. Till then, a sense of helplessness and scepticism hangs in the air, notes Ramesh Menon.
Okram Landhoni, wife of Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh won the Khangabok Assembly constituency, Thoubal district, with a margin of over 18,000 votes.
The Congress on Sunday demanded a thorough probe into Siddique's murder and said Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis, who holds home portfolio, should take moral responsibility for law and order "failure" and resign.
The rival Shiv Sena factions led by Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde faced off on Wednesday evening at the party's office at the civic headquarters in south Mumbai. Tension had prevailed for an hour on the premises till police intervened.
Describing the unrest among party members as just the "tip of the iceberg," the report shed light on the underlying discontent within the BJP.
Political parties in Nagaland barring the ruling Naga People's Front is rooting for deferment of the next assembly election in the state till a final solution is arrived at in the ongoing Naga peace process.
On the eve of the meeting hosted by it, the Congress clarified that it will oppose the ordinance on Delhi services in Parliament, a key condition put by the AAP to attend the talks.
Jaishankar briefed the leaders of all parties about the situation in the violence-hit nation and the steps taken by the Indian government.
Even before the first votes are counted in Maharashtra, fissures have emerged within the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on who will head the next government. Both camps are claiming the chief minister's post, with constituents in both camps laying claim over the chief minister's post. The MVA, consisting of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), and the Mahayuti, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, have expressed confidence that their respective alliance will form the next government after votes are counted on Saturday. While a majority of exit polls have predicted that Mahayuti will retain power, a few have favored the MVA.
'If you are going to make undeserving MLAs as ministers, then why should sincere and hard-working people like us continue?'
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi on Sunday released its manifesto for the Maharashtra assembly polls, promising free cervical cancer vaccines for girls aged 9 to 16 and and two optional leave days for women employees during menstruation.
A decision on supporting candidates for the November 20 state polls will be taken in due course, he told a Marathi news channel in Jalna district.
The list also includes the names of Mumbai BJP president Ashish Selar, fielded from the Vandre West seat, and senior party leader and Lok Sabha MP Narayan Rane's son Nitesh Rane, fielded from Kankavli, a seat he currently represents in the assembly.
The PM said the Congress and its allies should not encourage the "Pakistan agenda" and speak the language of separatists.