The MNS joining the BJP-led alliance in Maharashtra could help it with a 'Thackeray versus Thackeray' narrative, fielding Raj Thackeray, an articulate speaker, to take on his cousin Uddhav Thackeray.
Along with Sharma, Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa, who were named as deputy chief ministers in the recently held Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party meeting, will take oath.
Apart from Raje, Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Ashwini Vaishnaw are said to be among the frontrunners for the chief minister's post in Rajasthan.
What may work for the BJP is the growing resentment against V K Pandian, a bureaucrat-turned-politician who Jay Panda alleges has hijacked the Odisha government.
The Aam Aadmi Party's MP and lone Lok Sabha member Sushil Kumar Rinku joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday along with party MLA Sheetal Angural, dealing a blow to the party already facing a crisis following the arrest of its leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Both Khera and Suman joined the saffron at its headquarters in Delhi in the presence of senior leaders, including BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde and national media department in-charge Anil Baluni.
Singh had fought the 2019 Lok Sabha election unsuccessfully from the South Delhi constituency as a Congress candidate.
Maharashtra recorded a voter turnout of 58.22 per cent till 5 pm on Wednesday in the elections to the 288-member state legislative assembly, with Gadchiroli district logging more than 69 per cent voting, poll officials said.
What some of our leaders were up to this weekend.
Prime Minister Modi was welcomed by BJP president J P Nadda, Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, former Tamil Nadu chief minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader K Palaniswami and Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio.
Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawde on Monday said the engineering "degree" he obtained from a Pune institute in 1984 is not bogus as claimed by a television news channel.
Former Union minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, who quit after his Lok Janshakti Party faction was not given any seat by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in Bihar for the Lok Sabha elections, on Saturday announced his party's support to the ruling alliance, ending speculation over his next course of action.
In an indication that the BJP is looking to welcome politicians from other parties into its fold, Shah asked party members to connect with well-known personalities and leaders from different communities if they want to be part of the "nationalist mainstream".
The Nationalist Congress Party on Sunday turned down the Bharatiya Janata Party's offer to accommodate Praful Patel as a minister of state with independent charge in the new National Democratic Alliance government and said it was assured that 'remedial measures' would be taken.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday appointed election in-charges and co-in-charges for 23 states and Union territories in view of the Lok Sabha polls this year.
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 three AAP councillors switching sides is set to tilt the scales in favour of the BJP whenever fresh mayoral polls are held.
Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda on Tuesday asked the party's social media teams to follow the organisation's values and refrain from indulging in lowering the standard of political discourse, "irrespective of what narrative the Opposition chooses".
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vinod Tawde on Monday alleged that a Maharashtra minister brought "pressure" on Mumbai police to grant permission to the Raza Academy's meeting at Azad Maidan to express concern over the Assam situation on Saturday that resulted in violence, leaving two dead.
Sena slammed the cultural affairs minister Vinod Tawde for redefining the 'prime-time' for screening of Marathi films in multiplexes.
The governor accepted Kumar's resignation, and asked him to continue as caretaker CM till a new government is formed, they said.
Sita lamented and said she was feeling neglected and reluctantly decided to tender her resignation from the primary membership of the party.
The newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs in Rajasthan will meet in Jaipur on Tuesday to formally pick the next chief minister of the state, ending days of suspense after the party won the assembly elections.
This management team will coordinate with all state units of the BJP and its allies for the presidential election and is also expected to guide its elected voting representatives on the voting process.
Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda has appointed Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya and party general secretary Vinod Tawde as central observers for the election of the leader of opposition in the Karnataka assembly.
If the alliance is sealed, the MNS may be given one seat to contest from Mumbai, the Maharashtra capital where his cousin Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction enjoys some influence.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called on Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray to offer condolences on passing away of his father and Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.
Terming as "inappropriate" the transfer of Central Bureau of Investigation Joint Director Rishi Raj Singh who headed the probe in the Adarsh scam, a senior Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party leader has requested the Centre to put it on hold.
Maharashtra's Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council and senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde refuted reports of an alliance of the Shiv Sena-BJP and the Republican Party of India (Athawale) with the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).
Electoral setbacks and thwarted ambition can have an unpredictable effect on leaders,, observes Aditi Phadnis.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is to address a public meeting to kick off election campaign for Lok Sabha election for the new Dindori Lok Sabha constituency in the district at Pimpalgaon Baswant on February 25.
The appointments holds significance as a large number of senior leaders, who had no organisational post currently, have now been given new responsibilities.
Sena further said that accusations against the ministers shows that "politics is being played to put a halt to their ambitions".
'When Fadnavis takes our help, it was sabka saath.' 'But when we support his rival, the latter is branded as appeasing Muslims.'
The first surgery was conducted on the morning of April 22 soon after his youngest brother Pravin allegedly shot him at point-blank range.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday appeared all set to make his second political volte face in less than three years, with a highly-placed source close to Kumar saying that the Janata Dal-United president is likely to tender his resignation by Sunday morning.
For now, Modi's government appears singularly focussed on demonstrating that it is not in any way inhibited by the BJP's loss of a majority, and will continue along its patented path of bulldozing all opposition and doing just as it likes, asserts Prem Panicker.
the Indian Meteorological Department's Mumbai observatory had issued a warning for rain and thundershowers in the city and suburbs beginning from Monday night owing to the cyclonic storm Ockhi which is 670 km south west of Mumbai
The BJP has dropped C T Ravi, a leader from Karnataka, Dilip Saikia, a Lok Sabha MP from Assam, as its general secretaries, and Vinod Sonkar, Harish Dwivedi, both Lok Sabha MPs from Uttar Pradesh, and Sunil Deodhar as secretaries.
The deputy prime minister will deliver the concluding remarks of the session.