Currently, CM Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis are the only members of the cabinet.
A day after the Uddhav Thackeray faction submitted a plea before Deputy Speaker Narhari Jhirwal to disqualify the rebel MLAs, the Ekanth Shinde faction on Friday gave a notice of no-confidence motion against the deputy speaker.
Dissident Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde on Wednesday stepped out of Radisson Blu hotel in Guwahati, where he and other rebel Maharashtra MLAs have been camping since June 22, and visited Kamakhya temple to seek blessings.
The development came within hours of Fadnavis' presser in which he denied that the Sena was ever promised the CM's post for two-and-a-half years when the alliance was formalised before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
His chamber had a large photograph of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray and a picture of Shinde's mentor Anand Dighe next to it.
The Sena also took a dig at NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who last week rebelled against his party and supported the BJP to form government in the state.
Pawar said there is not an iota of truth in reports about any rift in the NCP and his joining hands with the BJP.
The Leader of Opposition in the assembly also told an interviewer that he will "100 per cent" like to be chief minister of Maharashtra.
Thackeray wondered why the BJP has not fielded any member of the Lokmanya Tilak family for the Kasba bypoll.
Shiv Sena will play the role of principal opposition in the winter session of the Maharashtra Assembly beginning December 8, party leader Sanjay Raut said.
He targeted the BJP, saying it gave the option to Opposition to either join them or go to jail.
Former corporator Yashodhar Phanse posed as Shiv Sena MLA Gautam Chabukswar and visited the constituency of Chabukswar, after party chief Uddhav Thackeray had directed all MLAs of the drought hit areas to meet farmers.
Speculation about Ajit Pawar's next political move started swirling last week when he suddenly cancelled his scheduled meetings and also made comments which were seen as being soft on the Bharatiya Janata Party and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's camp.
Describing the unrest among party members as just the "tip of the iceberg," the report shed light on the underlying discontent within the BJP.
I think Sharad Pawar invited Ajit Pawar for the INDIA bloc meeting, Raut said.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Ajit Pawar on Tuesday said he would work for his party till he is alive and scotched speculation that he and a group of MLAs loyal to him might align with the ruling BJP.
NCP MLAs Shivendrasinhraje Bhosale (Satara), Vaibhav Pichad (Akole) and Sandeep Naik (Airoli) and Congress MLA Kalidas Kolambkar (Naigaon) handed over their resignation letters separately to Speaker Haribhau Bagade at the state legislature building Vidhan Bhawan in south Mumbai.
Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party president Jayant Patil on Sunday said his party has moved a disqualification petition against Ajit Pawar and eight others who took oath as ministers in the Eknath Shinde-led state government.
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.
'They want to win 45 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra in the 2024 general elections and joining hands with Ajit Pawar is in that direction.'
First-time Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Rahul Narvekar on Friday filed his nomination as the party candidate for the post of Maharashtra assembly speaker, election for which, if required, will be held on July 3.
Shinde said his new deputy Ajit Pawar has chosen the path of development and expressed his faith in the leadership of Modi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday won four seats in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal retained the Mokama assembly seat in the bypolls to seven assembly constituencies in six states.
The Mumbai police have stepped up security near Vidhan Bhavan ahead of the floor test slated for Thursday and along the route that the rebel MLAs of the Shiv Sena are likely to take from the airport, an official said on Wednesday.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said his party will not go with the Bharatiya Janata Party though some 'well-wishers' are trying to persuade him.
The state intelligence department on Saturday evening received specific input about the threat to the life of CM Shinde, the official said.
'Balasaheb Thackeray was a man who could control governments, despite not being in power. On the other hand, his son couldn't even control his party'
Bawankule's remark gave ammunition to the opposition parties, with the Nationalist Congress Party saying that it showed the Bharatiya Janata Party had no value for current CM Shinde.
The recent migration of marquee investments from Maharashtra to Gujarat seems to have rekindled the Marathi manoos sentiment.
With the BJP backing off from the race, the onus to form government now rests with the Sena, which has indicated that it might rope in the Congress and the NCP to prop up a government.
Patil said after he cast his vote in Mumbai on June 20 for the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, he was called to Shinde's bungalow in neighbouring Thane.
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.
Unless it leaves the NDA, we will wait and watch the developments, the NCP said.
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.
The chief minister's reply came on a query on Sharad Pawar's statement a day before wherein he said there was no split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar is its leader. Pawar later denied making such a statement.
Sounding the bugle for Mumbai civic body polls, Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah on Monday asked party leaders and workers to inflict a 'deeper wound' on Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on its home turf.
'If someone fiddles us on our religion then we will pay back five times more to that person. We have proved that time and again.'
'The margin of victory or loss would make both camps rethink their strategies for the 2024 assembly election in Maharashtra.'
Pednekar claimed efforts are being made to ensure the Thackeray faction was not able to hold its annual rally on Dussehra, which will be celebrated on October 5.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the office of the speaker, that some more time will be needed to pass orders on the disqualification pleas.
