'Gandhi had given the call 'Do or Die'. And with all the leaders arrested, you had to be your own leader.'
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction on Wednesday alleged that Rutuja Latke, its candidate for the November 3 byelection to Andheri East assembly seat in Mumbai, was being pressured by the Eknath Shinde camp to contest on their ticket.
The timeline of the Shiv Sena-centric political crisis in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, Opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi said the verdict will determine if democracy "exists" in the country and judiciary "functions" independently.
'Like me there are crores of Marathi people in the state hoping for this miracle to work.'
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Election Commission to go ahead with the hearing of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde group's plea seeking recognition as the real Shiv Sena and allocation of the party's bow-and-arrow poll symbol to it.
United Progress Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde arrived in violence-hit Assam to take a stock of the situation and meet displaced people in relief camps in Kokrajhar and Dhubri.
'Those seeking short-term benefits are joining the Shinde-led Sena and the ones looking at long-term benefits are joining the BJP.'
Keeping in mind the bitter backdrop in which the two Sena factions are likely to come face-to-face with each other on October 5, the Mumbai police, along with the Maharashtra administration, are leaving nothing to chance.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Thackeray faction, told the bench there is no constitutional protection for disqualification under the 10th schedule.
However, Shiv Sena spokesperson and MLA Sanjay Shirsat on Tuesday claimed Ajit Pawar-led NCP joining the Sena-BJP government is as per a larger strategy ahead of the Lok Sabha and assembly polls scheduled next year.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has recognised Rahul Shewale as the Shiv Sena leader in the Lower House of Parliament.
Earlier this week, the Shiv Sena-UBT approached the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Assembly Speaker to hear the disqualification petitions expeditiously.
'We know how to deal with the BJP if push comes to shove.'
Shiv Sena president and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday reached out to the functionaries of his party, which is currently battling a rebellion, and sought to allay fears surrounding the survival of his political outfit and the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
Three MLAs abstained, while 20 legislators, most of them from Congress and the NCP, including Congress's Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar, both former ministers, were absent during the trust vote.
On Devendra Fadnavis's orders, the Shiv Sena and the BJP came together in Osmanabad Zilla Parishad....It started from there
The MLA claimed his name had figured in the list of nine ministers of NCP, including Ajit Pawar who took oath last Sunday.
A video of MLA Dilip Lande entering the luxury hotel in Guwahati, where the party rebels have been camping for the past few days, was shared by Shinde's office in Mumbai on Friday.
Shinde had urged Uddhav Thackeray to renew the party's alliance with the BJP.
Shinde and a few MLAs of the ruling Shiv Sena have gone incommunicado and are camping in Surat.
'Uddhavji has accepted now that the majority of his family wants to ally with the BJP, then we should think about it, but there are issues around how to go about it.'
In a big political win for Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday held that the Shiv Sena faction led by him was the "real political party" when rival groups emerged in June 2022, and did not disqualify any MLA from the two camps, a verdict that adds another chapter in the Sena legacy war.
A section of Shiv Sena lawmakers had raised certain concerns after the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar joined the one-year-old Shinde-BJP government.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Thursday that spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had given him blessings and told him that he would succeed when he and other rebel Shiv Sena MLAs were camping in a Guwahati hotel.
Sources in the BJP said the expansion of the cabinet was unlikely before the session though the allocation of portfolios to the NCP ministers might happen in the coming days.
Interacting with reporters in Kolkata, the Trinamool national general secretary reiterated that his party stood with the government in matters of national interest, combating cross-border terrorism, and safeguarding sovereignty.
This came after Pakistan People's Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday stated that Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had tasked him to lead a delegation to present Pakistan's case on the recent escalations of tensions between the two nations.
The government was formed 10 days after Shinde raised a banner of revolt against the Shiv Sena leadership. Forty out of 55 Sena MLAs sided with Shinde, which resulted in the collapse of the two-and-a-half-year-old Maha Vikas Aghadi dispensation comprising the Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.
Shrikant Shinde said Maharashtra Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal had sent the disqualification notice to his father and 15 other dissident legislators under pressurer.
Sena workers vandalised an office of rebel Shiv Sena MLA Tanaji Sawant, who is currently in Guwahati.
Joshi's residence in Mumbai's Shivaji Park area was attacked by a few Shiv Sena workers in September 2009, ahead of state assembly elections, when Sarvankar was denied a ticket.
'When Uddhav Thackeray went in for surgery, he had presumed that Eknath Shinde would have looked after the Shiv Sena for him during this period.' 'He did not imagine that Shinde would use this period to backstab him.'
Shinde has been replaced with Ajay Choudhury, Raut told reporters.
This will be the first major electoral test after the political realignment that emerged in 2019.
Vaijapur MLA Ramesh Bornare said Shivsainiks are happy with Shinde becoming the chief minister.
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.
The Supreme Court on Monday sought the responses of Ajit Pawar and his 40 MLAs on a plea moved by the Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party challenging Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's decision declaring the group led by the deputy chief minister as the real NCP.
Congress legislature party leader said the MVA is on a stronger wicket legally.
The decision comes at a time when Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is holding the executive meeting of Shiv Sena.
