The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance on Saturday retained power in Maharashtra, pocketing a whopping 230 of the 288 assembly seats, as the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi's dream of wresting power fizzled, with the opposition combine managing to garner just 50 seats.
A case has been registered against Maharashtra BJP minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and 53 others, including directors of a sugar mill, for allegedly obtaining loans of nearly Rs 9 crore in the names of farmers using forged documents. The complaint was filed by a sugarcane cultivator and member of the cooperative sugar mill, alleging that the loan amounts were never credited to the farmers' accounts and were instead siphoned off by sugar mill officials and bank staff. The case was registered based on a court directive following a complaint alleging irregularities that occurred in 2004.
"One nation, one law can be understood. But we will never accept one nation, one party plan of the BJP", Thackeray said.
The Mumbai police has removed extra vehicles from the security convoys of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, his wife Rashmi and son Aaditya, an official said on Wednesday.
Thackeray, whose Maha Vikas Aghadi government fell after a rebellion in June last year by his cabinet colleague Eknath Shinde, who went on to become CM, also warned he would extract revenge for his ouster.
The government has moved to increase the strength of the joint committee of Parliament that will scrutinise the two bills proposing simultaneous elections from 31 MPs to 39, giving representation to more parties.
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.
The ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance appeared set to retain power in Maharashtra, and was leading in 214 of the 288 assembly seats, as per the latest figures by the Election Commission.
Among the BJP rebels, a notable figure is Gopal Shetty, a two-time MLA and former Lok Sabha member from Mumbai. He has filed his nomination as an independent candidate against the party's official nominee, Sanjay Upadhyay, in Mumbai's Borivali assembly constituency.
The doctor, hailing from Beed district and posted at a government hospital, was found hanging in a hotel room in Phaltan of Satara district on Thursday night.
Senior RSS leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi's call to drop the Aurangzeb tomb controversy challenges decades of communal rhetoric in Maharashtra, igniting hopes for unity and a balanced historical narrative.
Several opposition parties on Saturday slammed the BJP-led central government, calling it the India-Pakistan Asia Cup match an insult to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack.
Addressing his party workers in Nagpur, the home turf of Fadnavis, Thackeray on Monday said the BJP leader, his former ally, was a taint on the city as he had aligned with a section of the Nationalist Congress Party despite asserting that he would never do so.
'The message is loud and clear: "If you're not falling in line, we will open a line of understanding with the MNS, and then the Shiv Sena will be in trouble".'
Former MP Sanjay Nirupam on Thursday took a swipe at the Congress leadership over his expulsion, claiming it was done after he sent his resignation letter to the party.
Thackeray wondered whether the state government was trying to favour the Adani Group at the cost of residents of Dharavi, a sprawling slum colony.
'We were told that the 'yuvaraj' had announced to contest 151 seats, and they were not willing to back down on that number'
It was a mixed bag for 11 seats with more than 35 percent Muslim voters, where six candidates of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi emerged victorious in the Maharashtra assembly polls on Saturday, while four seats went to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance.
The Shinde-led Shiv Sena has maintained he will continue to be CM despite the NCP joining the state government, which also includes the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said his party has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court objecting to a meeting between Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar before the crucial verdict on disqualification petitions against rival Sena MLAs, including the CM.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said the matter is listed for hearing after advocate Amit Anand Tiwari sought urgent listing of the plea.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha questioned the locus of petitioner Ashish Giri, a lawyer, and dismissed his plea.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday termed the criticism of Uddhav Thackeray in Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar's autobiography "wrong information" and downplayed it by claiming books are read for two days and then put into libraries.
BJP leader Nitesh Rane criticizes MNS after alleged assault on a man for not speaking Marathi, sparking political controversy.
As the verdict for the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections is out, here is how some of the big faces fared in the contest.
Pawar said some programmes have been decided for the unity of the alliance.
The Congress, which has 37 MLAs, had fixed a quota of 30 first preference votes for its candidate Satav, and seven remaining votes were to go to its ally Sena (UBT)'s nominee Narvekar, party sources said. Eventually, Satav got 25 and Narvekar 22 first preference votes, which meant at least seven Congress MLAs cross-voted.
The checking of bags of leaders, a practice of the poll authorities to enforce the model code of conduct, came to the fore in the state's election campaign after Shiv Sena-UBT leader Uddhav Thackeray was subjected to it in Yavatmal.
Raj also justified his support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing the construction of the Ram Temple and abrogation of Article 370 among other reasons.
'If there is Sabka Saath, then why are you only talking about Hindu-Muslim?'
Discordant voices emerged on Sunday from the Mahayuti even as the alliance continued to remain in the throes of government formation more than week after it swept the Maharashtra assembly polls.
After the Congress' shock defeat in Haryana, the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties flexed their muscles on Wednesday, accusing the grand old party of ignoring them.
The Kalaram temple, located in Panchavati area of Nashik, is dedicated to Lord Ram.
Glimpses from India and around the world that will make you smile and cry.
Thackeray, along with top leaders of the Sena-UBT, went to Mumbra here to visit the razed shakha but had to face resistance from workers of the CM's Shiv Sena, who also showed black flags.
The Indian government briefed an all-party meeting on Thursday on the success of "Operation Sindoor", the retaliatory airstrikes against Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack. Top government functionaries and opposition leaders met for a second time in a fortnight amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan. The meeting was chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by several prominent leaders from various political parties. The government highlighted the strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base Muridke.
The video, shot before the commencement of a press conference after an all-party meeting on Monday on the demand for reservation to Maratha community, shows Shinde asking the other two leaders, "We just need to speak and leave, right?" While Ajit Pawar promptly replies, "Yes, right," Fadnavis is seen whispering in Shinde's ear and pointing out that the microphone is on. Pawar is also seen indicating the same.
The two rival Senas took over each other a day after the party's 57th foundation day celebrations which saw Thackeray and Shinde holding separate events in Mumbai and trading charges.
He alleged that the MVA allies were refusing to consider the factor of Maratha activist Manoj Jarange.
Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi, suspended from the Maharashtra assembly over his remarks praising Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, will be '100 per cent' put in jail, Chief Minister Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in the legislative council.
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