Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has rejected the demand for booking MNS leader Raj Thackeray, whose party has targeted North Indians in the state, under the National Security Act saying he did not agree with this.
Singling out trade unionist Sharad Rao whose Mumbai Auto-rickshawmen's Union has threatened to go on indefinite strike next month, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday said his party would step in to counter the inconvenience caused to commuters due to their "arrogant" behaviour.
The police said the miscreants were "unidentified people" and at this point and there were no clarity on who was behind it.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant urgent hearing to a petition seeking direction to the Election Commission, to derecognise Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navanirman Sena, for his controversial remarks against north Indians. A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said that the petition would be heard on February 22, as fixed by the registry. The petition had been filed by advocate Arvind Shukla.
Heavy police security was deployed in Mumbai in the wake of Thackeray's call for "silencing" loudspeakers atop mosques.
"Two women from Uttar Pradesh were raped and no complaint has been lodged so far. Local people know the culprits but they are frightened to name them," Abu Azmi said. Azmi alleged that the Congress, heading the coalition government in Maharashtra, is supporting Raj to secure its vote bank and ignoring his activities.Raj should be charged for murder and robbery as the MNS campaign claimed two lives and many north Indians were looted while fleeing Maharashtra, he said.
The National People's Party, which rules Meghalaya, is another national party which received no donations through electoral bonds.
Beleaguered Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde resigned from the cabinet on Tuesday, days after his close aide Walmik Karad was named as the mastermind in the murder of a village sarpanch and three months after the new Mahayuti government assumed office.
The silence is specially deafening from three parties that symbolised hope for Muslims: The Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Samajwadi Party. 'What fear prevents these leaders from at least talking about the way our community is being targeted?' 'Will they really lose Hindu votes if they do so?'
We asked readers what they would do if they had only three years to live life to the fullest? While the contest closes on November 23, here are some more interesting responses.
Thackeray, 59, became the third Sena leader after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane to occupy the top post.
Vedat Marathe Veer Daudale Saat is set to release on Diwali 2023 in Marathi, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Walse Patil said MNS chief Raj Thackeray will also be invited for the meeting.
'Eknath Shinde's credibility will not grow beyond Thane, Uddhav's credibility will rise across Maharashtra and perhaps in the rest of the country'
Former MLA Harshwardhan Sapkal has been appointed as the new president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), tasked with reviving the party in the state after its crushing defeat in the last year's assembly polls. Sapkal, a veteran politician, replaces Nana Patole, who held the position since 2021. The Congress aims to rebuild its base and prepare for upcoming local body polls, including those in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, and Nagpur. The party will also need to work with its allies, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), to strengthen the opposition against the ruling BJP-led alliance.
The elder son of party chief Uddhav Thackeray will become the first member of the clan ever to contest an election.
With two phases of voting already completed, political parties are busy with filing nominations, addressing roadshows and undertaking hectic campaigns for the constituencies that will vote this month.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
'Our fight is against his political masters, the BJP and Devendra Fadnavis.'
Justifying his party's demand for autonomy for states, as spelled out in its 'blue-print' for Maharashtra's development, Raj Thackeray on Monday said the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena would not be contesting the Lok Sabha elections henceforth.
Continuing to target former Bharatiya Janata chief Party Nitin Gadkari over his plea to Raj Thackeray not to field candidates in Lok Sabha polls, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday said former is a "businessman, who has inked a deal with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief."
'If the Maha Vikas Aghadi thinks that they have won 30 (Lok Sabha) seats and that would translate to winning 180 assembly seats they would be living in a fool's paradise.'
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was among those who mourned her loss, and visited her home.
Team Anna appeared to be divided on Raj Thackeray on Thursday with Anna Hazare praising the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray saying his work "appeals" to him and its key member Prashant Bhushan disapproving his politics.
'I am trying to make the political system more answerable to the people.'
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The 29-year-old next-gen Thackeray, whom his party wants to be the deputy chief minister in the BJP-Sena alliance government, won with a thumping majority from Mumbai's Worli constituency.
Raj Thackeray had also said if such a step was not taken, loudspeakers would be installed outside mosques to play Hanuman Chalisa at a higher volume.
The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's much-awaited entry into the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-Republican Party of India combine to forge a grand alliance in Maharashtra won't be a reality.
Congress in Maharashtra had made efforts to woo the Raj Thackeray-led party to back UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee for the presidential poll.
'When one says Shivaji Park, it brings to mind the Shiv Sena led by Balasaheb Thackeray. And that Shiv Sena is now Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena'
Sanjay Raut, a key leader of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, on Monday claimed that Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has expressed the desire to quit after the Shiv Sena (UBT) gave a call for a statewide bandh to protest his "insult" to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, a claim refuted by the Raj Bhavan.
While 72 per cent of mosques have stopped using loudspeakers for morning prayer, many others have reduced the volume of loudspeakers, claimed a police official.
Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn-in as new chief minister of Maharashtra while allies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy CMs at a grand ceremony in Mumbai on Thursday evening.
BJP's Devendra Fadnavis, who is expected to make a comeback as chief minister after holding the post from 2014 to 2019, is scheduled to brief media later Thursday on the future course of action, which will include staking claim to form the next government.
Seeking to placate the Shiv Sena which is miffed over the recent thaw between Bharatiya Janata Party and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, party's Maharashtra in-charge Rajiv Pratap Rudy will on Tuesday meet Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai to reassure its ally and fine-tune the tie-up in the state.
The Nationalist Congress Party is livid as Shivtare continues to criticise Pawar, whose wife Sunetra is likely to contest from the Baramati Lok Sabha seat, even after meeting Shinde in Mumbai recently.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray on Thursday alleged that Narendra Modi is the first prime minister in Indian history to have remained out of the country for so long.
In a significant political move, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday announced candidates for the Lok Sabha polls and also declared his party's support for the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi.
The Shiv Sena chief will be the first from the Thackeray family to be sworn in as the chief minister.
