The BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena alliance secured a majority in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, winning 118 out of 227 seats and ending the Thackeray family's long-standing control.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated corporator Ritu Tawade for the Mumbai mayor election, while its ally Shiv Sena declared Sanjay Ghadi as its candidate for the deputy mayor's post.
Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS release a joint manifesto for Mumbai civic polls, promising free power, allowances for domestic helps, and property tax waivers.
The Shiv Sena, a ruling party in Maharashtra, has demanded the removal of the protected monument status from Aurangzeb's tomb in Khultabad. This demand comes after protests and calls for the tomb's demolition from organizations like the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) protects the tomb as a monument of national importance. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has stated that the state government will protect the tomb but will not allow the glorification of Aurangzeb.
Is a sulking Eknath Shinde on the way out as Shiv Sena chief?
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has recognised Rahul Shewale as the Shiv Sena leader in the Lower House of Parliament.
A ruling Shiv Sena leader has predicted a "major political earthquake" in Maharashtra on January 23, the birth anniversary of Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray, claiming that 10 to 15 MLAs from the opposition Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT) will switch sides and join the party led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The prediction comes amidst reports of discontent within the ruling coalition in the state.
While the responses of the candidates were predictable, depending on which side they belonged to, an interesting point slipped through when Rahul Shewale cited the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as a scheme that would add to Mumbai's importance. No big infrastructural project in Mumbai, he said, could be successful without the Centre's nod.
This will be the first major electoral test after the political realignment that emerged in 2019.
Despite Dharavi being located in the Mumbai North Central constituency and Mahalaxmi Racecourse in South Mumbai, the issues have caught the attention of all parties and their candidates.
In the post on X, Mahajan said, "I will be indebted to the family-like people from Mumbai North Central who treated me not just as an MP but gave me affection like a daughter."
Shiv Sena leader and former MP Rahul Shewale said around 2 lakh people are expected to attend the rally at Azad Maidan to hear the CM.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Monday to caste their votes in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
'When I felt that the party is drifting away from Hindutva, I tried to speak to Uddhavji. But nobody was ready to listen.'
Shewale insisted that a large number of Sena leaders were in favour of an alliance with the BJP and keen to contest the next Lok Sabha polls under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The rebel Shiv Sena MPs met Birla a day after the party's floor leader, Vinayak Raut, gave a letter to the speaker, asking him not to entertain any representation from the rival faction.
His statement comes a day after both the Sena factions faced off at the party's office in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation headquarters in south Mumbai.
The Bharatiya Janata Party suffered a setback in Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra on Tuesday, with its tally dwindling by less than half compared to 2019, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi of Congress, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar was on a roll, pocketing 30 of the 48 seats.
Members of the BJP and the Shinde faction staged a demonstration in the Vidhan Bhavan complex on Thursday while holding banners which read: "AU kaun hain" (who is AU).
The constituency of Mumbai South, home to industrialists as well as high-ranking government officials, fared the worst with 47.7 percent voting.
The Shiv Sena split last month when more than two-thirds of the party's MLAs withdrew their support from the Maharashtra government led by Uddhav Thackeray, throwing their lot with Shinde.
Gulabrao Patil said that they had not quit the party for power, but "left power while we were ministers."
The impending expulsion of Trinamool Congress (TMC) member Mahua Moitra from the Lok Sabha, three bills to replace criminal laws and a proposed law for the appointment of election commissioners are issues set to dominate the Winter Session of Parliament, with the government urging the Opposition to ensure a conducive environment for discussions in the House.
The MP claimed that Siddiqui's radio station was funded by US-based Pakistanis and the Pakistan government.
Raut claimed that the BJP was trying to break Maharashtra into three pieces
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Wednesday nominated Rajan Vichare as the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, replacing MP Bhavana Gawali, party leader Sanjay Raut said.
The Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena is set to meet the Election Commission on Friday to stake claim for the party's 'bow and arrow' poll symbol ahead of the Andheri East assembly bypoll in Maharashtra.
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.
The trigger is the state government's recent approval for a floor space index of 1.33 for Mumbai city and an FSI of one for the suburbs.
Even as the two parties appeared confident that they have reached out to every voter and publicised their new symbols, experts suggested varying impact of the split and the symbols on the vote bank.
Uddhav Thackeray, his son and Maharashtra tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray figured in the list of campaigners.
As counting is underway for the civic bodies in Maharashtra, and all eyes are on Mumbai's cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Here are a list of some of the big winners and losers from these elections.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday continued to target late Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar, saying that he helped the British rulers and wrote a mercy petition to them out of fear.
'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.'
Lok Sabha elections to 48 seats in the state will be held in four phases on April 11, 18, 23 and 29.
'Not just 12 MPs, but 22 former Shiv Sena MLAs as well as four MLAs who are still in Uddhav Thackeray's camp will be switching to our side gradually.'
By breaking ranks with his Maha Vikas Aghadi allies, Thackeray has shown that he can leave the MVA altogether.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said the work to set up an international standard memorial of Dr B R Ambedkar at the Indu Mill Compound in Mumbai will be completed at the earliest.
'Modi must see how we live, what we have to do to educate our children.'
Thereafter on February 18, Shewale had written to the Lok Sabha Secretariat seeking allotment of the office for the party.
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