'It wasn't as if the senior police inspectors in charge of the police stations were not aware of the communal tension that was being created in their areas before and during the riots.' 'Yet they chose not to act,' recalls Jyoti Punwani.
The clash between SP and MNS activists in Mumbai took place before the start of the rally at Shivaji Park, where top leaders of UNPA were due to speak.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was in element at the Gateway of India.
Thackeray would be taking over as chief minister more than a month after results of the Maharashtra Assembly elections were declared on October 24.
"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.
With emotions running high following Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's death, cinema house-owners in Mumbai have decided to keep the theatres closed on Saturday night and on Sunday for security reasons
"(Someone said) I have promised that I will make a Shiv Sena worker chief minister but then he himself became CM," Shinde said, taking a jibe at Uddhav Thackeray.
'They should not forget that had we decided not to rebel, they would still be chanting slogans from the footsteps of the Vidhan Sabha.'
You won't take away anything from Thackeray when you leave the theatre, says Hemant Waje, reviewing the Marathi version of the biopic.
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.
'The Congress cannot speak the BJP's words while targeting Kejriwal.' 'What is the difference between the two? Where is the unity of INDIA then?'
Shiv Sena on Sunday made it clear that it won't make any more concession for BJP, offering to cede it only 119 out of the total 288 seats in Maharashtra Assembly for the next month's polls, and said this was "the final attempt" to break the logjam over seat-sharing.
This was not Sharad Pawar or Prithviraj Chavan speaking. It was Uddhav Thackeray, the undisputed chief of the Shiv Sena!
An alleged attack on a Marathi-speaking family by a government employee in Thane district sparked outrage in the Maharashtra Assembly, where the BJP-led government assured justice and condemned the incident. Opposition parties demanded immediate action against the accused, Akhilesh Shukla, and his wife, who have been arrested. The incident has raised concerns about discrimination against Marathi people and fueled tensions in the state.
Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com reports from Shivaji Park and the MMRDA ground to sense the mood of Shiv Sena workers -- from the Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde camps.
'There was no fight between the Shiv Sena and her.' 'But if she is still targeting the Shiv Sena, then only she can talk about the reason behind it.'
Fadnavis was sworn in on November 23 in an early morning hush hush ceremony, with the support of Ajit Pawar, who then headed the 54-member Nationalist Congress Party legislature party.
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.
Some Shiv Sena veterans say, "The Sena is eroding on its own, we don't have to quit this party. It breaks our heart to see the end, but it is inevitable." Neeta Kolhatkar on the crisis confronting the Shiv Sena.
"When BJP was untouchable in politics, Balasaheb Thackeray stood by that party," Uddhav said.
Their flight landed at the Mumbai airport around 8 pm nearly 50 minutes after it took off from Dabolim airport in Goa.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction maintained that it would hold the annual event at the Shivaji Park despite the denial of permission.
'The bonhomie that once characterised the Shiv Sena and BJP was clearly missing this time. Is there a deeper divide than what was apparent?'
'The impression that Uddhav saheb is naram (soft or not-so-aggressive), anukool (congenial), manmilau (amiable) is true.' 'But he is Balasaheb's son. So, aggression comes naturally to him.'
Facing flak from the Congress for his "Rambo" act in flood-hit Uttarakhand, Narendra Modi on Tuesday came in for criticism by ally Shiv Sena which said his rescue efforts for Gujaratis was detrimental to his interests when he is being cheered as likely prime ministerial candidate.
'I want to thank Sonia ji also. Parties with different ideologies have come together...those who were friends for 30 years, did not trust us. But those against whom we fought for 30 years have trusted me,' Thackeray said.
The Shiv Sena split into the Uddhav Thackeray and Shinde factions last year, after which the former filed petitions with the Speaker seeking disqualification of several MLAs belonging to the chief minister's camp.
The Election Commission on Wednesday expressed "strong displeasure" over Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut's remarks that Muslims should be stripped of voting rights and advised him to be more circumspect in future in his public utterance.
This is probably for the first time that the two former party colleagues-turned-opponents shared the stage after Rane's exit from the Shiv Sena, of which Thackeray is the president.
A war of words between the banker wife of Maharashtra's former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena deputy leader Priyanka Chaturvedi has become the latest talking point in state political circles.
The simmering tension between Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party came to a boil on Sunday as Sena MP Anil Desai failed to take oath as union minister amid talk that Uddhav Thackeray will pull the party out of the government at the Centre and play opposition in Maharashtra.
In a veiled attack on MNS president and his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray, the chief minister said he does not pay attention to 'new players' of Hindutva.
Addressing the annual Dussehra rally at the iconic Shivaji Park ground in Mumbai, Thackeray lashed out at Shinde, whose rebellion in June this year brought down the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in the state.
As Uddhav Thackeray consolidates his hold over the Shiv Sena, conflict within the ranks seems inevitable, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
From enjoying beer sessions with Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray on the terrace of his Matoshree residence to going on vacations with Nationalist Conress Party chief Sharad Pawar and his family, the late thespian Dilip Kumar enjoyed warm relations with leaders belonging to different political hues, even though the ties strained later.
Thackeray claimed when the Shiv Sena was with the BJP, he (Shinde) would say the BJP is harming the Sena.
The Shiv Sena leader said dirty politics is being played following the death of the Bollywood actor and without naming anyone, added that the allegation being levelled is political stomach-ache stemming from frustration.
