Outgoing Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who returned to Mumbai from New Delhi on Friday morning, is travelling to his native village in Satara district amid continuing suspense over his successor a week after the assembly poll results. Shinde had told reporters in New Delhi on late Thursday night that the next meeting of the Mahayuti alliance on government formation will be held in Mumbai on Friday. However, the caretaker CM, who heads the Shiv Sena, is travelling to his native village Dare in Satara district in western Maharashtra and the meeting is now expected to take place on Sunday, the sources said. The Shiv Sena leader has repeatedly said he would not be an obstacle in the government formation and abide by the decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the next chief minister. Different viewpoints are emerging in the Shiv Sena over Shinde's place in the next government to be headed by the BJP, the biggest constituent in the Mahayuti, which posted a thumping win in the just-held assembly polls. Many leaders in the Shiv Sena are asking Shinde to accept deputy CM's post if offered by the BJP. However, another section feels it wouldn't be right for him to accept No. 2 position after serving as CM for more than two-and-a-half years, the sources said. "The government formation process will start after the BJP announces its legislature party leader," they said. During his Delhi trip, Shinde had met Shah and discussed formation of the next government in the state. His deputies in the outgoing state cabinet Devendra Fadnavis (BJP) and Ajit Pawar (NCP) had also met the senior BJP leader. Talking to reporters in the national capital, Shinde called the discussion good and positive. Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar had also met BJP president J P Nadda.
Owaisi said 324 farmers have died by suicide in "Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) division", but no one is talking about it.
Movie star-Minister Suresh Gopi visited Thane over the weekend to campaign for the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra.
This is a complete betrayal of the mandate of the people of the Sagardighi Assembly constituency, Ramesh said on Twitter.
That's her personal opinion, I don't agree with that: Vinesh on Sakshi Malik's claims
'Knowing that a no-confidence motion would succeed, the BJP central leadership forced N Biren Singh to resign.' 'If he had lost on the floor of the House, it would have been a major setback for the BJP.'
I learnt that Yogi was deeply unhappy with the BJP's choice of Lok Sabha candidates. He had proposed a list of names, but hardly any of his suggestions were accepted.
The grand old party alleged that these namesake candidates are backed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Bharatiya Janata Party to confuse voters.
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 31 assembly seats spread across 10 states and Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, from where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her electoral debut. Though these bye-elections are not going to have any bearing on the governments, they are seen as a big test for the Congress and the INDIA bloc which failed to put up a united show in the recent Haryana assembly polls. Most of these seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs contested the Lok Sabha elections and won while in some constituencies, the bypolls are being held due to death of the representatives. The Wayanad seat was vacated by Rahul Gandhi, who also won from the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency which he kept. Voting will be held in seven seats in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four seats in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two seats in Madhya Pradesh, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. Votes will be counted on November 23.
With the fourth and fifth lists, the party has declared candidates on 88 of the 90 seats.
The National People's Party (NPP) has withdrawn support from the BJP-led government in Manipur, citing the government's failure to resolve the ongoing crisis and restore normalcy in the state. The NPP, which has 7 MLAs in the Manipur Assembly, made the decision after recent incidents of violence and protests in the state. The BJP continues to hold a majority in the Assembly, with 32 legislators, and the withdrawal of support is not expected to affect the government's stability.
The Assam assembly will discontinue with the two-hour break provided on Fridays to facilitate Muslim legislators to offer 'namaaz', Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The rule will be implemented from the next session, an assembly official said.
'There are differences over certain issues between the JD-U and BJP but we are in alliance and continuing.'
Cracking the whip, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat on Tuesday suspended 12 party leaders, including 6-term MLA Madhu Shrivastav and two former legislators, for filing nominations as independent candidates for the upcoming assembly elections after they were denied tickets.
Devendra Fadnavis, who is set to become the chief minister of Maharashtra for a third time, was a sensitive, polite and helpful student who never boasted about his family's political background, recalls one of his school teachers. Savitri Subramanium, who was Fadnavis' teacher in Saraswati Vidyalaya from Class 8 to 10, says he was an average student but studied well. She remembers him as a polite and simple student who never boasted about his family's political background even though his father Gangadharrao Fadnavis was an MLC at the time. Subramanium said she never thought that Fadnavis would become a good orator as he never came on stage or performed on stage during the school days. She added that he may have inculcated these qualities during his participation in Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) as a student activist.
Delhi faces a severe financial crunch and the deficit is largely due to numerous welfare schemes without adequate revenue flowing in. The success of welfare schemes and electoral promises will need careful financial planning and out of the box thinking to whip up additional revenue, notes Ramesh Menon.
The ruling BJP has named Kalpesh Parmar as its candidate for the Matar seat, which was represented by Solanki in 2014 and 2017.
Dr Singh's eldest daughter Professor Upinder Singh gently reminded the gathering that this was a moment for prayer, not accolades.
Fissures surfaced among Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners ahead of the Jharkhand assembly elections as the Rashtriya Janata Dal on Saturday expressed disappointment over the announcement of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress contesting 70 of 81 seats in the state.
Akhilesh said the alliance's decision was not informed by any seat-sharing math but its pursuit of victory.
Eknath Shinde, a former auto-rickshaw driver, has emerged as a key leader in Maharashtra, culminating in his appointment as Deputy Chief Minister. His journey from a Shiv Sena rebel to a dominant figure in the state's politics is a testament to his resilience and political acumen. He gained popularity for his pro-people stance and his contributions to infrastructure projects and social welfare schemes, solidifying his position as a powerful player in the Mahayuti alliance.
The incident took place at the unit, located 40 km from Nagpur, causing severe damage to the building, an official at Kondhali police station said.
'The RJD is a family centric party and its top leadership's main concern is only to promote the family.'
He joined the BJP at its headquarters in the presence of Union ministers Manohar Lal Khattar and Harsh Malhotra, Delhi unit president Virendra Sachdeva and national media head Anil Baluni among others.
'In this assembly election, Muslims here will vote for one who works, but also one who safeguards their identity.' 'Their existence is more important they feel, than a faulty light meter. So yes, a Muslim representative will make a difference.'
The demand was made by Akhtarul Iman, state president of Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM no sooner than he rose to take oath in Urdu.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi along with the five other Congress MPs from Uttar Pradesh will visit violence-hit Sambhal on Wednesday, party's state unit chief Ajay Rai said.
Opposition parties on Friday alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party leaders displayed insensitivity in handing over a compensation cheque to the inconsolable mother of Captain Shubham Gupta, who was killed fighting terrorists in J-K, and lashed out at them for using the occasion as a 'photo-op'.
A 23-year-old Dalit woman was found dead in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, with her family alleging she was killed for refusing to vote for the Samajwadi Party in the Karhal assembly bypoll. Two individuals have been arrested in connection with the woman's death. The incident has escalated into a political controversy, with the BJP accusing the SP of creating an atmosphere of terror and the SP alleging that the Election Commission is turning a blind eye to the BJP's alleged misuse of government machinery. The bypoll in Karhal is being contested by the SP's Tej Pratap Singh and his 'fufa' Anujesh Pratap Singh, with the BSP also fielding a candidate.
Congress workers stormed into the Gujarat party headquarters in Ahmedabad on Monday and burnt posters of senior leader Bharatsinh Solanki to protest against the party's decision to give a ticket to sitting MLA Imran Khedawala from his Jamalpur-Khadia seat in the city.
Ranvir Sena's front organisation Akhil Bharatiya Rashtrawadi Kisan Sanghathan has urged people, particularly supporters and sympathisers of upper caste Bhumihars, to socially boycott Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United MLA Sunil Pandey, his MLC brother Hulas Pandey and the families of Hareram Pandey, suspected to be involved in the murder of Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Singh Muhiya on June 1.
'Omar Abdullah presented Delhi as a villain in front of the people of Jammu Kashmir before elections and now is shaking hands with them.'
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is a "senior leader and MLA of the party", Supriya Sule said on Thursday when asked about the status of the former in the Nationalist Congress Party.
Will Hindus not vote for a Muslim candidate? Is that why such few Muslims are given tickets? Two constituencies in Mumbai break prevalent stereotypes about these difficult questions.
'There is a difference between a politician and leader.' 'A politician will have his pound of flesh first and do everything else later.' 'A leader will sacrifice everything to help people.'
'The Congress cannot speak the BJP's words while targeting Kejriwal.' 'What is the difference between the two? Where is the unity of INDIA then?'
The BJP may be in the Opposition in many states, but nowhere is it as divided as it is in Karnataka, points out Aditi Phadnis.
An average voter turnout of 20 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of voting in the bypolls to 15 assembly seats spread across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Uttarakhand on Wednesday amid an incident of stone pelting in a village in UP's Meerapur and allegations of police personnel deterring voters from casting their ballot.
Nearly 13.04 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 9 am on Wednesday in 43 assembly constituencies in Jharkhand where voting is underway in the first phase, officials said.
Rescue officials confirmed casualties in the incident, claiming to have already recovered 5 bodies from the heap of debris where the cracker manufacturing unit once stood.
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