Union Minister and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh passed away at the Global Hospital in Chennai on Tuesday. He was 67.
Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Thursday dismissed the Opposition's demand for his resignation in the wake of the Supreme Court rebuking him for abusing his position as Maharashtra chief minister. "These are political things. I cannot expect anything positive from my opponents", Deshmukh said when asked about the demand from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena that he quit in the wake of the court's observations against him.
Deshmukh, who is suffering from multiple organ failure, was brought by an air ambulance from Mumbai late Monday night.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, probing the multi-crore Adarsh Housing Society scam, has recorded the statement of Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who had dealt with files pertaining to the society during his tenure as Maharashtra chief binister.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday visited Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's native Babhalgaon village in Latur and paid their last respects to the departed leader.
Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh passed away at a hospital in Chennai on Tuesday after suffering from multiple organ failure.
Thousands of people lined up on the road to pay their last respects to Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh whose body arrived in Latur on Wednesday morning.
Thousands of grieving supporters and family on Wednesday bade a tearful adieu to Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh whose mortal remains were consigned to flames at his native Babhalgaon village from where he began his political journey as an obscure sarpanch four decades ago.
Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who passed away in Chennai on Tuesday afternoon, will be cremated at his native Babhalgaon village in Latur district on Wednesday, family sources said.
A team of five Central Bureau of Investigation officials from Mumbai are camping in New Delhi to further the investigations into the Adarsh Co-operative Housing society. After months of anticipation, the CBI has finally questioned the Union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde. The man next in line is former Maharashtra chief minister and newly-appointed Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. What is stated in Deshmukh's affidavit?
Union Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Thursday declined to comment on the latest CAG report which is said to have indicted him over a land allotment in Mumbai.
Political parties in Maharashtra will have to gear up for the biennial Rajya Sabha and legislative council polls soon after next month's local bodies elections in the state, with Union Ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Rajiv Shukla among those seeking re-election.
Denying the charge of backing rebel of Congress leader Sunil Deshmukh against the candidature of President Pratibha Patil's son Raosaheb Shekhawat from Amravati in Maharashtra assembly polls, Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said on Tuesday that party workers should learn to accept the party's decision.
The condition of Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, undergoing treatment for serious liver ailment at a hospital in Chennai, was stated to be stable on Friday.
In more trouble for Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, a land allotment in Latur district during his tenure as Maharashtra Chief Minister has come under the scanner of the Bombay high court.
The inquiry commission probing the Adarsh Housing Society scam has issued summons to former Maharashtra chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan to appear before it as witnesses. The two-member commission, which summoned Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde last week, issued summons to Deshmukh, presently Union minister for rural development, and Chavan.Chavan had to step down as the state chief minister last year following the Adarsh controversy.
Backed by Sharad Pawar, Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday pipped former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar in a fiercely fought contest to become the new president of the Mumbai Cricket Association.
The condition of Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, undergoing treatment at a hospital in Chennai for serious liver ailment, is "stable", a top hospital executive said on Wednesday.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, named an accused in the Adarsh housing society scam, on Monday continued pointing fingers at his predecessor and Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for decisions taken while allotting land to the controversial housing society.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday condoled the demise of Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh describing him as a trusted colleague and an able administrator.
Seeking to absolve himself of culpability in the Adarsh scam, Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Wednesday passed the buck to former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, saying the "whole" matter was referred to the revenue department for clearance after which the land was allotted.
Deshmukh, who is Science and Technology Minister, was given additional charge of the Ministry immediately after Virbhadra Singh resigned in the wake of a Himachal Pradesh court framing corruption charges against him in a 23-year-old case in June, this year.
Social activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday met family members of late former Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and offered his condolences to them.
Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Thursday made his chief ministerial ambitions clear, when he stated during an interview that there was no hard and fast rule in the Congress that only a Member of Legislative Assembly could be elected to the CM's post.Deshmukh added that the party MLAs and the high command should finalise the next CM. Deshmukh was replaced by Ashok Chavan as chief minister last year, in the wake of the terror attack on Mumbai.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's resignation has been accepted, says Congress leader A K Antony.
Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde's son and daughter respectively figure in the third list of Congress candidates for the Maharashtra assembly polls.While Deshmukh's son Amit will contest from Latur city constituency, Shinde's daughter Praniti will fight from Solapur city central. The third list was announced by the All India Congress Committee on Thursday night. Rajendra Shekhawat, son of President Pratibha Patil, has already been nominated.
Union Minister for Rural Development and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday said the land for the controversial Adarsh Society belonged to the state and was never reserved for defence personnel or Kargil war heroes. In an affidavit filed before the two-member Adarsh Commission, set up to probe irregularities in the scam-tainted Adarsh Society, Deshmukh said, "The records clearly show that the land belonged to the state government."
Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar filed his nomination for the president's post in the upcoming Mumbai Cricket Association's elections, setting the stage for a straight fight for the coveted post with Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who also filed his papers on Thursday.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay a Bombay high court judgment making remarks against former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in a case involving allotment of 20 acre land to filmmaker Subhash Ghai's institute. The apex court, however, said it will hear in detail the petition filed by Deshmukh, now a Union minister, seeking expunging of remarks made by the high court in its February 9 judgment.
Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is against an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party, was made chairman of the Congress election management committee on Friday, possibly raising questions over the tie-up in the Assembly polls in Maharashtra.
Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Monday visited Anna Hazare, who ended his 13-day fast for an effective Lokpal Bill, at a private hospital in neighbouring Gurgaon.
Following a meeting of Congress Parliamentary Party, where some members felt that leaders from Maharashtra should be roped in to talk to the 74-year-old Gandhian, Deshmukh drove to Ramlila Maidan to meet Hazare but maintained that it was "in his personal capacity."
Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Tuesday appeared to be laying the blame for the Adarsh scam at former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's door when he told the judicial panel probing it that the land was allotted to the society after a go-ahead from the revenue department.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday targetted Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for his alleged involvement in illegal land allotment to a prominent movie producer and demanded that he should be sacked if he does not step down immediately.
It was a huge earthquake which put this nondescript town in Marathwada region on the news map. Sixteen years later, Latur is again in the news as it will decide the political fortune of Amit Deshmukh, son of Union Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, in the October 13 Maharashtra assembly elections. Amit, Congress candidate from Latur (urban) constituency, is locked in a quadrangular contest.
The Bombay high court on Friday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to file its reply by August 29 on the investigations it carried out against Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar Shinde in the multi-crore Adarsh scam case.
Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh, Rajiv Shukla, Mukul Roy and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley were on Thursday elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha even as Non-resident Indian businessman Anshuman Mishra in Jharkhand and Congress leader Abdul Mannan in West Bengal withdrew from fray.
Notwithstanding the party's gag order, Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said Congress should go it alone in the assembly elections in Maharashtra.
Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Mukul Roy, actor-turned-politician Jaya Bachchan and Bharatiya Janata party leader Vinay Katiyar were among eight candidates who filed their nomination papers on Saturday for the Rajya Sabha biennial polls. The last day for filing of nominations for the March 30 elections is March 19. All the eight candidates filed their papers before the Returning Officers of the state assemblies concerned.
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