Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was given a warm welcome by the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and other legislators in the wee hours of Friday when he returned to a luxury hotel near Panaji, where they are staying, after taking oath for the top post.
A Raj Bhavan communication issued on Wednesday states that 14 BJP MLAs and 5 Independents have withdrawn their support from the government.
Janata Dal-Secular leader and former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy expressed confidence on Friday that the Bharatiya Janata Party rebels will align with him and vote against the state governmment during the crucial floor test on October 11.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi cited a viral video on social media platforms, claiming that in it Modi's voice is heard in a call with BJP rebel Kripal Parmar.
Political sources say Modi is 'keen' on getting the NCP (SP) over to the Mahayuti to counter Eknath Shinde's 'demands' and to act as a cushion against his present allies, Nitish Kumar and N Chandrababu Naidu, 'in case their relationship became untenable'.
'We are the real Shiv Sena and we will remain in the Sena.'
In an apparent move to quell dissidence in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday expanded his ministry by inducting rebel legislator M P Renukacharya into his cabinet.
In Uttarakhand, which is traditionally used to a direct fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, the high number of rebels and independents have upset the calculation of the two big players.
Rebel Bharatiya Janata Party MP Ram Jethmalani, who had been critical of the BJP leadership and had revolted against the then party chief Nitin Gadkari, was on Tuesday expelled from the primary membership of the party for six years on charges of "breach of discipline".
'I never imagined that a boy from the footpath could receive such a big honour.'
Grand alliance leaders accuse their rivals of having engineered electoral tactics to confuse its voters.
He urged people to ignore politicians who only make speeches and instead, vote for those who work.
Around 50 dissident Maharashtra MLAs from Shiv Sena and Independent MLAs, led by Eknath Shinde, on Wednesday left the Radisson Blu hotel in Guwahati where they had been kept for the last few days under massive security, and prayed at Kamakhya temple.
The meeting convened by Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to pacify his MLAs did not yield any result as most of the rebels did not turn up.
The dissidence-hit Bharatiya Janata Party's Karnataka unit presented a picture of unity on Monday, with rebel leaders joining Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa at a meeting to ask partymen to work for the victory of party candidates in the April 9 bypolls to three assembly constituencies.
Deepak Kesarkar, a Sena MLA and spokesperson for the rebel faction headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, sought to know what Pawar gained by causing pain to Bal Thackeray.
The Bharatiya Janata Party unit in Maharashtra on Thursday suspended eight rebels, including a sitting Member of Legislative Assembly, from the party for six years for contesting against official candidates in the October 13 assembly elections.
Rebel Bharatiya Janata Party leader Keshubhai Patel, who announced the formation of a new party to take on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming assembly polls, is likely to be projected as the chief ministerial candidate of the anti-Modi outfit and is hoping that a large number of dissident BJP workers will crossover.
The Congress maintained that the state government had not ordered any such inquiry and it could be an internal matter of the CID. A top CID official has also said that no formal inquiry was ordered into the incident.
The sitting MLA, Prabhatsinh Chauhan, is Minister for Tribal Affairs and has been shifted to the neighbouring constituency Godhra. However, his son, Pravinsinh Chauhan has jumped into the fray.
Counting of votes in the Maharashtra assembly elections will begin at 8 am on Saturday, with all eyes on the outcome of the battle between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti coalition and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, which is seeking to make a comeback.
With political crisis in the Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party blowing over for the time being, the party on Monday hinted to the rebels that the central leadership will look into their demand and take an "appropriate action" at an appropriate time.
'BJP's last resort to win the election is to divide people into caste, religion, creed. but it doesn't happen in Maharashtra.'
Shinde said MLAs are keen on continuing the Sena founded by late Balasaheb Thackeray.
At present, the BJP has 106 MLAs in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly and Shinde is leading 39 rebel Shiv Sena legislators and some Independents.
In a dramatic turn of events, Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj on Sunday recommended the imposition of President's rule in the state. Bhardwaj, who returned to Bangalore on Sunday afternoon after a three-day visit to Delhi, despatched a 'special report' on the unfolding political situation in the state in the aftermath of the Supreme Court setting aside the disqualification.
A total of 4,140 candidates were left in the fray for 288 Maharashtra assembly seats after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended on Monday, a poll official said.
Subhash Velingkar floated a new party in Goa and vowed to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the coming assembly polls
The returnees also included three independent MLAs, who too had landed in Panchkula on Tuesday after casting their votes in the Rajya Sabha election.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Purushottam Solanki was at the forefront of a demand for the removal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi following the electoral debacle.
Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party rebel candidate B J Puttaswamy's nomination papers for the March 30 Rajya Sabha election have been rejected for violation of the office of profit clause, an election official said on Wednesday.
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.
Discordant voices emerged on Sunday from the Mahayuti even as the alliance continued to remain in the throes of government formation more than week after it swept the Maharashtra assembly polls.
The Shinde-led Shiv Sena has maintained he will continue to be CM despite the NCP joining the state government, which also includes the Bharatiya Janata Party.
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.
Upping the ante, Bharatiya Janata Party strongman B S Yeddyurappa on Monday fielded a rebel candidate for the March 30 Rajya Sabha poll from Karnataka, as the stand-off with the party's central leadership over his reinstatement as chief minister intensified.
Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Dhanraj Kella, legislator from Wadhwan constituency, is the first rebel member to resign from the BJP and as a legislator after distribution of tickets. He submitted his resignation to Speaker Mangaldas Patel.
Speaking to reporters in Maharashtra's Pune city, Rohit Pawar said he is firmly with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
A new single bench of the Karnataka high court on Wednesday adjourned the disqualification of 11 rebel Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Legislative Assembly who had challenged their disqualification from the state assembly. The case had come up before Justice V G Sabhahith after the court delivered a split verdict two days ago on the petitions. Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice N Kumar had differed on the provisions the Constitution
Loyalists of former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa have made another attempt to resign from the Bharatiya Janata Party unit in the state. This time, they have emailed their resignations to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Fourteen BJP legislators had made an attempt to put in their papers on Wednesday but failed to do so as the Speaker was not available.
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