Congress leaders and workers continued their protests in several states on Thursday against Rahul Gandhi's questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald money-laundering case with many of them taken into preventive custody including former Union minister Renuka Chowdhury in Hyderabad after she allegedly grabbed the collar of a police official.
The 'Group of 23' leaders who participated included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, besides Sibal who hosted the post-birthday dinner for them.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar told reporters that his nephew Ajit deliberately made those remarks to avoid media.
Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday agreed to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra chief minister after a last-minute call from BJP President Amit Shah inviting him to the event.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has denied allegations it was trying to wean away MLAs from other parties.
A group of 10-15 men armed with swords, iron rods and glass bottles reached the residence on motorcycles and attacked the congregation
If the BJP goes ahead with the idea of forming a minority government without the Shiv Sena like in 2014, the NCP is less likely to support the BJP in any way.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has pleaded ignorance about claims made by rebel state minister Narayan Rane regarding assurance of chief ministership by the Congress when he left Shiv Sena nine years ago.
With this service, the journey on the 11.4 km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar stretch will reduce to 20 minutes
Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday termed as "unfortunate" Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's decision to boycott Prime Minister Narendra Modi's programme in Nagpur and said Congress should introspect why people are "unhappy" with the state leadership.
Reacting to Patole's suggestion that he was under watch, the NCP, which handles the home department, on Monday said his claim was based on incomplete information, while the Shiv Sena asserted that all was well in the ruling alliance.
Healthcare workers at the frontline of India's COVID-19 battle got their first jabs after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the world's biggest drive via video conferencing.
The Congress has remained ambivalent on the issue of giving tickets to tainted leaders like former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, who shared the dais with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi at an event on Wednesday, and former chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Suresh Kalmadi in the Lok Sabha polls.
'They are trying to lure our MLAs and that is why we are taking precautions.'
NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Congress leaders and former chief ministers Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj and former speakers Dilip Walse Patil (NCP) and Haribhau Bagade of the Bharatiya Janata Party were among the members to take oath early.
In an apparent jibe at the opposition BJP in Maharashtra, Pawar said some people were getting anxious after losing power.
Azad was elected to the Upper House from Jammu and Kashmir, which does not have an assembly currently after it was made a Union Territory with the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
Once the two parties finalise the common minimum programme, it would then be shared with the Shiv Sena which is then expected to add issues that are close to its heart, reports Prasanna D Zore.
The state has total 8,98,39,600 voters, including 1,06,76,013 in the age group of 18 to 25 years. A total of 6.5 lakh polling personnel have been deployed at 96,661 polling booths across the state.
Shortage of ICU beds, oxygen, ventilators, vaccines, doctors, nurses and crematorium space in India has dominated headlines around the world in the past few weeks with Covid-19 cases surging beyond control and the government failing to deliver. Yes, election rallies, Kumbh Mela, blatant flouting of social distancing and mask protocols coupled with a messy vaccination process are said to be responsible for the health crisis of colossal proportions that India is facing today. But an analysis of Budget speeches made by finance ministers over 75 years also offers a glimpse of how low on the priority list healthcare has featured for the political class and policy-makers, which is a significant reason for the current situation.
The Congress has a feeling that the state leadership is being left out.
Considering the economic downturn, the banking sector should help strengthen the cooperative sector to encourage small and medium industries and create jobs, Chavan said.
Here is how the parents of S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandlia and Ankeet Chavan reacted to the court's verdict to dismiss all charges against them.
Party insiders say the high command could consider replacing state chief Manikrao Thakre, reports Sanjay Jog.
'How can we tolerate if a Constitutionally-appointed governor acts in violation of the Constitution?'
The February 16 polls are clearly a precursor to the big fight in the state in 2014. Neerja Chowdhury analyses
'The Shiv Sena as a party was going nowhere.' 'Now Uddhav Thackeray has shown his partymen that he can take the BJP head on.'
A Delhi court's verdict dropping all charges against former India paceman S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal has brought back the spotlight on former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar.
Deora, while campaigning in Zaveri Bazar area on April 4, had made an appeal to the Jain community to not vote for the Shiv Sena as it had hurt their religious sentiments earlier.
Nationalist Congress Party leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar tells Sanjay Jog the allegation of corruption against his party is a political conspiracy. Edited excerpts:
NCP spokesperson and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik said that AICC general secretary H K Patil was told about this scheduled meeting when he and other Congress leaders met Pawar in Mumbai recently.
A faction of Congress believes that that decision of the NCP benefitted the BJP which won 122 seats and staked a claim for power.
"If we had the numbers, we wouldn't have waited for anyone. The Congress and the NCP didn't cross the 100 mark...we will work as a responsible opposition," Pawar said.
Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam, who was supposed to lead a 'silent' morcha of his party workers at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, the venue of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public meeting, on Saturday claimed that he has been placed under "house arrest" by police.
The Indian soldier who was returned by Pakistan after four months in captivity recounts his horror.
'Getting Brijbhushan to rake up Thackeray's anti-north Indian stand is the BJP's way of cutting Raj Thackeray to size.' 'Could just one MP have stopped Raj Thackeray's Ayodhya tour?'
