Almost a year after he was forced to resign in the aftermath of the terror attack on Mumbai, senior Nationalist Congress Party leader R R Patil is back in the saddle as Maharashtra home minister. NCP chief Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar will handle the prestigious Power portfolio, in addition to the Water Resources Ministry he handled earlier. NCP leader Jayant Patil, who was home minister in the outgoing government, will now handle the Rural Development Ministry.
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Sunday refuted talk of his stir not being a factor in the Maharashtra assembly polls, which were swept by the Mahayuti comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party.
Shukla is understood to have discussed with Vajpayee the possibility of poll adjustments with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Chhattisgarh.
The two-day deliberations, which will be held at Grand Hyatt in the suburbs, will begin in the evening of August 31 and from 10am on September 1. The meeting will be followed by a press conference, Raut informed.
The Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, will decide whether only the chief minister and deputy CMs will take the oath of office on December 5, or whether ministers will also be sworn in. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for the evening at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending. While BJP sources have indicated that Devendra Fadnavis is the frontrunner for the chief minister's post, the BJP legislature party leader is yet to be appointed. NCP chief Ajit Pawar has stated that the chief minister will be from the BJP, with deputy CMs from the Shiv Sena and NCP. The Mahayuti alliance secured a landslide victory in the assembly elections, winning 230 seats out of 288. The government formation has been delayed due to disagreements on the chief minister's position.
Jarange has repeatedly targeted the BJP warning that the community would defeat its candidates in the assembly polls, which will be held on November 20.
Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar, who had resigned from the Cabinet in September following charges of corruption in irrigation projects, is set to make a comeback on Friday as Maharashtra deputy chief minister.
Unhappy over the imposition of Central rule in Meghalaya, senior Nationalist Congress Party leader P A Sangma on Friday held discussions on the issue with opposition leader in the Lok Sabha L K Advani and Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Prakash Karat in New Delhi.
With Nationalist Congress Party leader Chagan Bhujbal floating the idea of rotating the post of chief minister, senior Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh said on Thursday there was no doubt about his party getting the Chief Ministership in Maharashtra.
NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has thrown his weight behind villagers in Solapur, Maharashtra, who are demanding a repoll using ballot papers after raising doubts about the accuracy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Pawar met with villagers in Markadwadi, where a police case was filed against over 200 people for attempting to conduct an unauthorized re-election. He expressed support for their concerns, claiming that the villagers were "the ones who thought of conducting polls using ballot papers." Pawar criticized the police action, calling it a restriction on the villagers' right to assemble and vowing to raise the issue with the Chief Minister, the state Chief Electoral Officer, the Prime Minister, and the Election Commission of India.
The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday sought to downplay the controversy that kicked up after "mischievous" remarks were made about Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the NCP-supported magazine Rashtravadi.
Hours after Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar president Sharad Pawar said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies can not demand that a Leader of Opposition must be appointed as they do not have the required numbers, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Bhaskar Jadhav on Saturday claimed there is no provision in the law which talks about the appointment of the LoP in legislature merely on the strength of the party.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had been diagnosed with dengue and advised medical guidance and rest for next few days, his party leader Praful Patel said on Sunday.
The third phase of polling will take place on May 7, 2024.
Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel has been included in the Group of Ministers to tackle corruption, a development which assumes significance against the backdrop of recent complaint by the United Progressive Alliance ally that its voice was not being heard in government functioning.
Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties on Saturday announced that they will participate in the exit poll debates on television on Saturday evening after the grouping's top leaders met and deliberated on the issue at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence.
In signs of friction in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) over the chief minister's post, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut on Friday said ally Congress should understand his party's contribution in increasing the grand old party's tally in the Lok Sabha polls.
Zeeshan Siddiqui lashed out at the Congress over its treatment of minorities and accused it of being 'communal'.
Praful Patel said all the MLAs of the NCP, the Congress, and the Shiv Sena voted as per the party line.
The Congress on Wednesday began the consultation process with its allies on the issue of next President with party chief Sonia Gandhi holding deliberations with Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar on the issue.
All the 12 cabin crew members, including two pilots, on board the ill-fated London-bound Air India flight were killed in the Ahmedabad air crash on Thursday.
His new nameplate now reads 'Eknath Gangubai Sambhaji Shinde'.
The unlikely power sharing agreement between the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress had fizzled out in June following large-scale dissidence in the Sena ranks.
Shiv Sena-Uhhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said the seat-sharing talks between his party and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar have concluded as these two parties are driven by a desire and mindset to resolve issues.
The campaign vehicle carried a banner with photographs of Sunetra Pawar and Ajit Pawar with the symbol of the Nationalist Congress Party.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and senior leader Jairam Ramesh were among the 10 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha on Friday from Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, while counting was underway in Maharashtra after an eight-hour delay due to wrangling by rival parties over alleged breach of voting rules.
Strengthening security to avert a 26/11-type terror attack will be the top priority of the Maharashtra government, Home Minister R R Patil said."Beefing up the security apparatus and improving coordination among concerned agencies would top my agenda," said Patil. The senior Nationalist Congress Party leader had resigned after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, saying, "My conscience does not permit me to continue in the post". He was later made the party's state unit chief.
'Can you believe Ashok Chavan was with me in the senior leaders' meeting one day, and next day morning, he switched sides!'
The priority now is to work out a comprehensive plan for government formation.
This is to enable Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to reduce the size of his cabinet as per a Constitutional amendment.
If the alliance is sealed, the MNS may be given one seat to contest from Mumbai, the Maharashtra capital where his cousin Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction enjoys some influence.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said the passengers onboard the bus that fell 150 metres into a river in central Nepal were from Jalgaon district in the state as per preliminary information, and efforts are on to bring them back.
Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra assembly Vijay Wadettiwar on Saturday claimed that there will be major changes in the state government, including the 'main seat', in the coming weeks.
Sharad Pawar said everyone has a place in the "house".
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has strongly criticized its ally, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, for felicitating Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at an event in Delhi. The party's spokesperson, Sanjay Raut, views the felicitation as an endorsement of BJP leader Amit Shah, who was instrumental in Shinde's split from the Shiv Sena. While Pawar's party maintains that the event focused on literature, BJP interprets it as an acknowledgment of Shinde's leadership. The incident has sparked a political controversy in Maharashtra, with both sides engaging in verbal sparring.
Like his father Karunanidhi and AIADMK rivals MGR and Jayalalithaa, Stalin would like to confine his real political work to Tamil Nadu, and not want to take after the late Congress leader K Kamaraj and take up a national role, even if to create greater political space for son Udhayanidhi, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The police on Friday registered a case against Kerala Health Minister P K Sreemathi and seven others complying with a court directive with regard to the death of new-born babies at a government-run hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.
Ajit Pawar criticised Patil, a senior BJP leader, for his remarks two days after polling in the Baramati Lok Sabha seat in Pune district concluded.
The talks will cover issues like the number of seats to be contested by each party, the formula for seat-sharing, and the seats to be offered to other allies
The list also includes the names of Mumbai BJP president Ashish Selar, fielded from the Vandre West seat, and senior party leader and Lok Sabha MP Narayan Rane's son Nitesh Rane, fielded from Kankavli, a seat he currently represents in the assembly.
