Narendra Modi will take oath as the prime minister for a third consecutive term on Sunday evening as President Droupadi Murmu has invited him to form the government.
The BJP is set to make decisive gains in civic elections in Maharashtra even as it is locked in a neck-and-neck fight with its bickering ally Shiv Sena in Mumbai.
Against the backdrop of the Eknath Shinde-led government winning the trust vote in the Maharashtra Assembly, Shiv Sena president and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday alleged it was the Bharatiya Janata Party's ploy to finish his party, and challenged it to hold mid-term elections in the state.
We left the Congress-NCP govt because we didn't want to be with them, Shiv Sena spokesperson said.
Amid talks of cross-voting, three of the 37 Congress MLAs in Maharashtra skipped a meeting called by the party ahead of the legislative council polls on Friday.
One more Shiv Sena MLA from the Uddhav Thackeray camp joined CM Shinde's faction, taking its tally to 40.
Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha MP Anil Desai, a confidant of Uddhav Thackeray, said the party is now looking to implement the 50:50 formula with its ally the BJP.
As Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray is set to take oath as chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday, preparations are in full swing at Shivaji Park in Dadar in central Mumbai.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar on Thursday filed papers as an NCP candidate for Rajya Sabha elections.
Thackeray said since the SC directed Narwekar in May last year to take a decision on the pleas seeking disqualification of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, the speaker has met the chief minister twice.
An accidental encounter between Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray in a lift in Vidhan Bhawan on Thursday caused ripples in state political circles.
"We will definitely contest it in court. The Shinde faction left the Shiv Sena, then how can they claim that their group is the original party, and not the one led by Uddhav Thackeray. The Thackeray name is synonymous with the Shiv Sena," the Rajya Sabha member said.
'They are running the Shiv Sena on Facebook and Twitter.' 'So who will be scared of the Shiv Sena on the roads?'
Here are some of quotes from Uddhav Thackeray's resignation speech.
The Congress, which has 37 MLAs, had fixed a quota of 30 first preference votes for its candidate Satav, and seven remaining votes were to go to its ally Sena (UBT)'s nominee Narvekar, party sources said. Eventually, Satav got 25 and Narvekar 22 first preference votes, which meant at least seven Congress MLAs cross-voted.
Gulabrao Patil said that they had not quit the party for power, but "left power while we were ministers."
Bharatiya Janata Party's National Democratic Alliance partners have got five cabinet ministerial berths in the third term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as against none in the outgoing government, given the party's dependence on allies for a majority in the Lok Sabha.
The Sena executive also authorised Thackeray to take action against the rebels.
But if the reports are found to be wrong, those who made these allegations against him should quit politics, he challenged the leaders from the Opposition parties, as he alleged that efforts were on to defame him.
Shiv Sena member of Parliament Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party was using central agencies to topple the Maharashtra government by targeting the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders and their family members.
The development comes as a major setback to the Thackeray faction comprising 16 MLAs who will be bound by the whip to be issued by Gogawale for the trust vote.
The alliance won 41 of the 48 seats leaving the Congress-NCP combine with just 5 seats.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has handed over portfolios of nine rebel ministers, who are currently camping in Guwahati, to other ministers.
The delegation told Shinde that Samata Party was an old political outfit from Bihar and 'mashaal' (flaming torch) was its election symbol.
The Rajya Sabha MP has been asked to depose before the federal agency at its office in south Mumbai on June 28 and record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
"The arrogance of buying any politician and form a government will no longer work in this state. The bubble of being invincible has burst," Raut said.
The top court said it needs to go through the case files and posted the matter for hearing at 3:30 pm on Wednesday
Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLA and minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday moved the Supreme Court against the disqualification notice issued by the deputy speaker to him and 15 other rebel legislators.
Shinde said he would give a detailed reaction after the order but maintained that the Election Commission has allowed his outfit to keep the name 'Shiv Sena' and its 'bow and arrow' symbol.
There is a view that heavyweight portfolios like home, finance, defence and external affairs besides education and culture, two ministries with strong ideological hues, will be kept by the BJP, while its allies can get anywhere between five to eight cabinet berths.
"What sort of nationalism was displayed while backing 1993 blasts accused actor Sanjay Dutt," BJP Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar said, alluding to late Bal Thackeray's support to the actor.
Saamna said Fadnavis' remarks on his return were funny and cautioned that he "should not forget that Eknath Shinde is the Chief Minister".
'The Sena can quickly reduce most solutions to violence.' 'When in power, it will revert to this gene which is coded into it and we will no doubt produce entertaining and frightening moments,' says Aakar Patel.
Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police Vishwas Nangre Patil said his team visited Shivaji Park and BKC to take stock of security arrangements at the venues.
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.
'I will not talk to people who call me a liar. I will not tolerate this,' the Sena chief said.
At least five Congress MLAs did not attend a meeting of the party's lawmakers in Maharashtra on Thursday, called in the aftermath of the high-profile exit of former chief minister Ashok Chavan that has triggered speculation about more such defections.
Kande, in his petition filed through advocate Ajinkya Udane, said the ECI's decision discharging his vote has caused grave prejudice to his dignity and reputation, and sought that the HC quash and set aside the ECI's decision.
We had requested the government to make a law on construction of Ram Temple but the government did not do that, Thackeray said.
The ruling Shiv Sena on Wednesday announced the candidature of Sachin Ahir and Aamshya Padvi for the upcoming Maharashtra legislative council polls as it decided against renominating senior leader and state minister Subhash Desai and another party veteran Diwakar Raote for the election to the upper house of the state legislature.
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