"If anyone did suggest that we should support the BJP contrary to the stand we had taken, (even) then many in the party including me did not agree with that (suggestion). Our stand not to go with the BJP was very clear," Sharad Pawar said.
Putting up a brave face after its alliance in Maharashtra fell apart, the Congress on Friday targeted the Nationalist Congress Party alleging that it was trying to "get close" to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which was quick to rule out any truck with Sharad Pawar's party.
The two parties have agreed to contest 26 and 22 seats respectively.
In 1999, Sharad Pawar, along with P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar were expelled from Congress. The same year, Pawar founded the NCP.
Even as the Opposition is cornering the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance over various issues, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday shared dais with Shiv Sena-BJP leaders at a function to mark the 75th birthday of former Lok Sabha speaker and Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi.
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 commencement of negotiations is close on the heels of the recent decision taken by the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party high commands, to continue alliance during the state assembly election.
Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah on Thursday described the upcoming assembly elections as the second leg of the party's "Congress free India movement."
Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel has claimed 51 out of the 53 party MLAs had told NCP chief Sharad Pawar that a possibility of joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party should be explored after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra collapsed last year.
His remarks come a day after Ajit Pawar apologised to the people of the state for the collapse of the structure which was installed in the coastal district's Malvan tehsil, around 480km from Mumbai.
As his one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi drew intense interest in political circles, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said there was nothing wrong in having such interaction, adding snarkily that he had not gone to meet Pakistani leader Nawaz Sharif.
'When I felt that the party is drifting away from Hindutva, I tried to speak to Uddhavji. But nobody was ready to listen.'
They have already prepared a draft common minimum programme (CMP).
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday travelled in a helicopter together for an event in Palghar as they reaffirmed their commitment to take forward their alliance and spoke about their strong bond after a controversial advertisement.
Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray on Saturday evening appealed to Marathi people to come together and vote for the Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray on Friday said he was not aware of any talks about forming an alliance with main opposition parties, Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party.
Shewale insisted that a large number of Sena leaders were in favour of an alliance with the BJP and keen to contest the next Lok Sabha polls under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'Nothing will change in the richest municipal corporation in the country.' 'New faces with the same surnames will get party tickets.' 'So the same order, the same money spending systems, will continue.'
According to insiders, "talks are on" between the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena at "an exploratory level".
Scotching speculation of any alliance between the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party and Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Sena chief Bal Thackeray said there was no need for a "third entity" in the combine.
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.
Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine's bid to wrest control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Friday appeared coming to a naught with the country's richest civic body's ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance set to emerge as the largest bloc.
Hitting back at Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh, who recently snubbed him for extending an "unsolicited support" to Narendra Modi and "seeking votes" in his name without joining the Shiv-Sena-BJP-RPI alliance, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Monday taunted Singh for raising the objection, while Modi was silent on the issue.
Supporting the rebel Shiv Sena candidate, Dhananjay Bodare, those who tendered their resignation were miffed over the Kalyan East seat falling into the BJP's quota.
'Our discussions are more towards how to claim our right to use the Shiv Sena party symbol without attracting the anti-defection law.'
Thackeray's remarks that only the Sena pattern -- and not Modi -- will work in Maharashtra, is being viewed as a reminder to top state BJP leaders who want to replicate the 'Modi effect' in the state. Sena is the senior partner in the over two-decade old saffron alliance, which has seen a lot of turbulence after the killing of Pramod Mahajan, the main architect of the alliance.
'The NCP fires the gun from Raut's shoulders and who does the bullet hit? Not enemies of our party but loyalists like us. This is not acceptable to us'
'Raut saheb has mentally wired himself to spend some time in ED custody.' 'He knows the risk is huge, but rewards will be bigger if he comes out unscathed.'
"We do not have a clear majority. People have asked us to sit in the opposition. We accept that mandate and will take care that we play that role effectively," he said.
In his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in the party mouthpiece Saamana, Raut said state Chief Minister and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray in his address to Shiv Sainiks on January 23 had turned the tables on the BJP, which was criticising him over his illness.
The stakes are high. While targeting Muslims for its political game plan, the Sena needs to check its own political path. Else it will face the same debacle as that of MNS and lose its identity completely, says Neeta Kohlatkar.
The Sena and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray labelled each other gaddar (traitor) after Shinde's rebellion split their original party last year, while Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis publicly asserted he had exacted revenge on Thackeray for his betrayal.
While political experts claim that the Modi Magic is missing in the 2024 general election, the common people in the street -- at least those in the crowd on Thursday -- vow that they will vote for Modi and the candidate who contests the election doesn't matter much.
Fadnavis and his entourage, which included several senior BJP leaders, moved on without reacting to the jeers.
Clashes broke out between Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Dadar area in Mumbai on Wednesday after the youth wing of the BJP took out a protest march against 'offensive' remarks in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana about the land deal controversy in Ayodhya.
'Shinde and Fadnavis have different working styles and certainly there is a crack that has come between them.'
Ridiculing the 'overtures' by Bharatiya Janata Party and Republican Party of India leaders to bring Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray into the Sena-BJP-RPI alliance, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said that is not what the people of Maharashtra want.
In a damage control exercise, the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Tuesday night spoke to Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray amid fissures in the saffron alliance over BJP's overtures to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
The saffron allies are locked in an intense negotiation on seat-sharing and a consensus has eluded them till now on how many constituencies each of them will contest.
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