Waikar is a former standing committee chairman of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, a four time corporator and has been MLA from Jogeshwari for four terms.
Maharashtra is set to hold local body elections for municipal councils and nagar panchayats, marking the first phase of a Supreme Court-mandated process. The elections are seen as a key indicator of political sentiment following the BJP-led Mahayuti's victory in the assembly elections.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar, and the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Wednesday announced to contest 85 seats each in Maharashtra assembly elections even as deliberations to seal a final seat-sharing pact are still underway.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) on Tuesday claimed 22 MLAs and nine MPs from the rival Shiv Sena were feeling suffocated due to the "step-motherly treatment" by the Bharatiya Janata Party and could quit the group led by Maharashtra Chief minister Eknath Shinde.
This is for the first time that the Thackeray family has lost control of the party that was founded in 1966 by Balasaheb Thackeray on the principles of justice for the sons of the soil.
Was it Uddhav's back-seat driving of Shinde's ministry Did Shinde feel slighted by Aaditya Thackeray's rapid ascent in the Shiv Sena? Was his spat with Sanjay Raut on Monday the last straw?
However, speaking to Marathi news channel ABP Majha on Monday night, Shinde appeared pulling no punches.
The MNS, which has one MLA, had backed the Bharatiya Janata Party in the last month's elections to the Rajya Sabha as well as state Legislative Council seats.
Shiv Sena will support National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, party president Uddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday.
The privileges committee of the Maharashtra legislature will issue a show cause notice to stand-up comic Kunal Kamra for his remarks against Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushma Andhare will also receive a notice.
We made it clear that we have hurt the head of our family (Thackeray), but we will not allow any criticism against him, Kesarkar said.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred to January 22 the hearing on a plea of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena against the Maharashtra assembly speaker's order declaring the Sena bloc led by CM Eknath Shinde as "real political party" after its split in June 2022.
One more Shiv Sena MLA from the Uddhav Thackeray camp joined CM Shinde's faction, taking its tally to 40.
Senior NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil has ruled out the possibility of a merger between the two factions of the Nationalist Congress Party, stating that talks ceased following the death of Ajit Pawar.
MVA allies Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress on Thursday asserted that they will continue to support Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, whose party Shiv Sena is facing a rebellion in its legislative ranks, threatening the stability of his government.
Top leaders of the Opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance met in Mumbai late Tuesday night with indications that the seat-sharing arrangement for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections has been finalised.
The development came as the Thackeray-led party is reeling under the impact of Eknath Shinde's rebellion and the loss of power in Maharashtra.
Shiv Sena leader Anil Desai, in a recent communication to the poll panel, has urged it to give Shiv Sena a hearing in case of claims to the party's election symbol -- bow and arrow.
Thackeray on Tuesday announced his party's support for Murmu in the July 18 presidential election.
'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".'
The Maharashtra chief minister addressed the state amid the steep spike in coronavirus cases.
With Ajit Pawar's passing, the 40 MLAs who remain will now have to decide whether they want to continue in Mahayuti in the company of the BJP and Shiv Sena -- or return to the Sharad Pawar fold.
The Bombay high court will on Thursday hear a petition filed by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena seeking permission to hold its annual Dussehra rally at the iconic Shivaji Park in central Mumbai on October 5.
Pawar said some programmes have been decided for the unity of the alliance.
'Uddhavji will face the no confidence motion on the floor of the House whenever it happens.'
'We have given riot-free Maharashtra in our 18-month rule.'
Thackeray wondered why the BJP has not fielded any member of the Lokmanya Tilak family for the Kasba bypoll.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday asserted that Marathi is the language of Mumbai and Maharashtra and anyone who lives here should learn and speak it. Fadnavis was speaking in the state assembly after Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Bhaskar Jadhav said the government should clarify its stand on senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi's comments that a person coming to Mumbai may not necessarily learn Marathi.
He said the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of three parties -- Sena-UBT, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party -- was formed to protect democracy and it was necessary to work unitedly for it.
State-run bus services have been completely suspended in five Marathwada districts while curfew and Internet shut-down have been imposed in parts of Beed where the houses of political leaders were targeted by protesters.
The Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Ekanth Shinde has decided to withdraw its application submitted to the Mumbai civic body seeking permission to hold a rally on Dussehra at the iconic Shivaji Park ground in Mumbai, a party MLA said on Tuesday afternoon.
In a setback to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, former MP Anandrao Adsul has resigned from his party post as a 'leader'.
Shah also challenged the Congress to implement its Lok Sabha election promise of providing Rs 8500 monthly to women in states ruled by the party.
As Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray is set to take oath as chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday, preparations are in full swing at Shivaji Park in Dadar in central Mumbai.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Thursday said the Mumbai civic body's decision to deny permission to it for Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park was expected and claimed it was 'very bad script of the Bharatiya Janata Party'.
"I also apologize if I have hurt anyone unintentionally," the official quoting Thackeray as saying.
'With one fell swoop he (Sharad Pawar) won the sympathies of the NCP workers at the grassroots, his own flock of MLAs and bolstered his position as the NCP chief'
Breaking the nearly three-decade-old dominance of the undivided Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday emerged victorious in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, and also vanquished the alliance of Nationalist Congress Party factions led by Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar in the Pune civic body.
In an interview to NDTV, Pawar came out in support of the Adani Group and criticised the narrative around Hindenburg Research's report on the conglomerate.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)'s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut walked out of Mumbai's Arthur Road jail on Wednesday evening, hours after a special court granted him bail in a money laundering case.
