Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with party spokespersons in Mumbai, two days before his estranged cousin Raj's scheduled rally.
Even before the first votes are counted in Maharashtra, fissures have emerged within the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on who will head the next government. Both camps are claiming the chief minister's post, with constituents in both camps laying claim over the chief minister's post. The MVA, consisting of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), and the Mahayuti, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, have expressed confidence that their respective alliance will form the next government after votes are counted on Saturday. While a majority of exit polls have predicted that Mahayuti will retain power, a few have favored the MVA.
Kumar also hinted that the Maharashtra elections could be held after Diwali.
The PM said the Congress and its allies should not encourage the "Pakistan agenda" and speak the language of separatists.
Thousands of people gathered in Maharashtra's Beed city on Saturday to protest against the brutal murder of Massajog sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh as even MLAs from ruling parties demanded the sacking of Nationalist Congress Party minister Dhananjay Munde.
The guardian minister of Mumbai suburbs also requested people who came in contact with him to get themselves tested.
The claim evoked a sharp reaction from Fadnavis, current deputy chief minister in the Mahayuti government of BJP, Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and Nationalist Congress Party led by Ajit Pawar, who said Thackeray has "lost his mind".
As the race for Maharashtra chief minister enters the last lap, Hemant Waje looks at several scenarios which can play out.
A day after the Congress accused Uddhav Thackeray of unilaterally announcing his party's candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra legislative council polls, the two parties finalised a deal on Wednesday under which the Shiv Sena (UBT) will contest three out of four seats, while the grand old party will fight one.
Convert the Haryana result into a blessing in disguise; make the calamity into an opportunity. Maharashtra was always the big ticket game in town; MVA must win it. The Congress should shift headquarters to Mumbai for the entire month. Show urgency and a hunger to win, asserts Sanjay Jha.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
The firing took place outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddiqui's office.
Raut claimed that by not deciding on the disqualification petitions, Chandrachud kept doors and windows open for defections.
The Bombay high court on Friday restrained political parties and individuals from proceeding with the Maharashtra bandh scheduled for August 24 or on any future date.
Schemes like the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana strain fiscal resources amid rising unemployment and prices of food items.
The strains are telling as old friends and new enemies face each other in the battlefield.
Addressing a public rally in Aurangabad late in the evening, in which he was termed as 'Hindu Jananayak', the MNS chief said if Uttar Pradesh government could remove the loudspeakers, what was stopping the Maharashtra government, led by his estranged cousin Uddhav Thackeray, from doing so.
A mother-son duo was booked for allegedly killing a dog by hanging it from a tree in Maharashtra's Pune district, police have said.
The Mumbai police arrested a man from Bengaluru for allegedly threatening Maharashtra cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray, an official said on Thursday.
Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde wondered whether Indira Gandhi was also anti-Constitution as she had praised Savarkar as a "remarkable son of India".
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar supremo Sharad Pawar on Saturday said there was no question of taking back those leaders who had deserted the two parties.
Gaikwad, an MLA from Buldhana assembly seat in Vidarbha region, is no stranger to controversies.
The Maharashtra chief minister addressed the state amid the steep spike in coronavirus cases.
'If you are going to make undeserving MLAs as ministers, then why should sincere and hard-working people like us continue?'
The name of Devendra Fadnavis has been finalised as the new chief minister of Maharashtra who will be elected as the legislature party leader in a meeting to be held either on December 2 or 3, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader said on Sunday night.
The ordinance will be tabled in the next session of the legislature, it said, adding that 27 posts were approved for the commission.
Total assets of the CM and his wife have gone up from 11.56 crore in 2019 to Rs 37.68 crore in 2023-24, a rise of 225 percent, the affidavit showed.
Thackeray on Sunday said he had deferred his visit to Ayodhya in UP as there was ploy to "trap" his party workers into legal issues.
Shinde said he had "good and positive" discussions with Amit Shah and J P Nadda.
The massive victory of Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti in Maharashtra indicates a tactical course correction post the Lok Sabha debacle, with factors like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's active role in the poll campaign, Ladki Bahin scheme, rise in women voting, and subtle message of Hindutva playing a crucial role.
Maharashtra NCP's chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of following the use-and-throw policy and added that Raj Thackeray "will have to pay for his own karma".
Questions are being raised on the future of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) as differences among its constituents come to the fore and several parties call for serious introspection by the Congress after a string of debilitating electoral losses.
Shridhar Madhav Patankar, the brother of Thackeray's wife Rashmi, "owns and controls" Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Private Limited, it said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Friday said the grand welcome accorded to the T20 World Cup winning Indian cricket team in Mumbai was also a message to the BCCI to never take away the final match of a major tournament from the country's financial capital.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused the Congress of making attempts to snatch reservations meant for tribals and hand them over to its 'vote bank'.
The Maharashtra minister alleged that Muslim voters were convinced that Uddhav Thackeray had "forsaken" Hindutva ideologies and the ideals of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray which led to them coming together to help the Congress and Shiv Sena-UBT candidates.
Shinde's counsel said that any delay in the floor test would cause more damage to the democratic polity.
In an open letter, he asked people to lodge complaint with the police by dialling 100 if they are distributed by the sound of 'azaan'.
A large number of police personnel have been deployed there to prevent any untoward incident in view of the prevailing situation, he said.
