Anil Deshmukh said the whole of Maharashtra and India knows that Ajit Pawar and those with him hurriedly joined the government after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech in Bhopal.
Maharashtra heads to the polls for 29 municipal corporations, with Mumbai's BMC election taking center stage as the BJP-led Mahayuti faces off against the Thackeray front. Key issues include promises for women, pollution control, and the city's financial health.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was on Wednesday named as the guardian minister of his home district Pune in place of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and cabinet minister Chandrakant Patil.
Speculation is rife that Sunetra Pawar could be fielded by the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency against Sule, who is Ajit's cousin and the daughter of party founder Sharad Pawar.
After Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar announced that the sale deed executed by his son Parth's firm for a prime land in Pune has been scrapped, officials said the company will have to cough up double the stamp duty, which comes to Rs 42 crore, to get the transaction cancelled.
The BJP has emerged as the most dominant force in the recently-held municipal council and nagar panchayat elections in Maharashtra, securing the highest number of seats in five out of the state's six administrative divisions.
'The cousins do not have a good rapport with each other in politics, though they may be having a good rapport with each other in family life.'
While the BJP and Shiv Sena have announced a seat-sharing pact, another constituent of Mahayuti, the NCP, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, is contesting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls separately.
'If the BJP had contested all 227 seats, I believe they would have managed to secure a majority on their own.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accuses the Maharashtra government of a land scam involving government land reserved for Dalits being sold to a company linked to a state minister's son. He questions Prime Minister Modi's silence on the issue.
The EOW stated in its closure report that it did not see any criminality or wrongdoing in the matter, adding that the bank in question did not suffer any losses in the process of sanctioning loans or selling the Jarandeshwar Sugar Mill.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party head Ajit Pawar on Monday said discussions were underway among the Mahayuti partners to finalise a formula for the new government formation in the state.
Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narvekar will likely disqualify the 16 Shiv Sena MLAs, including Eknath Shinde, who will then be asked to resign as chief minister. 'Once this is done, Ajit dada will be sworn in chief minister.'
NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Saturday received a grand welcome in Baramati, which is his assembly constituency and also the pocket borough of party chief Sharad Pawar, on his first visit after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra and parting ways with his uncle.
It asked the Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led faction to issue a public notice in newspapers in English, Hindi and Marathi saying that the 'clock' symbol is sub-judice and its use is subject to adjudication.
Parties in Maharashtra are engaged in intense negotiations to finalize seat sharing arrangements for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections scheduled for January 15.
'If they don't make Ajit Pawar chief minister, what can he do?'
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Friday that he would first speak with Nawab Malik to understand the former minister's position about his political affiliation before explaining his Nationalist Congress Party group's stand on the matter.
The Congress party experienced a significant decline in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, winning a mere 15 seats out of 227. Analysts attribute the poor performance to strategic missteps, infighting, and a failure to connect with voters amidst linguistic and religious polarization.
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis assures impartial action in the Pune land deal case involving a company linked to Deputy CM Ajit Pawar's son, Parth Pawar.
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.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday said nothing much happened during his meeting with his uncle and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar in Pune last week.
Speaking to reporters in Pune, Pawar played down the buzz saying that he is not able to attend the NCP meeting as he has to remain present for some other programmes happening at the same time.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Ajit Pawar on Tuesday said he would work for his party till he is alive and scotched speculation that he and a group of MLAs loyal to him might align with the ruling BJP.
Exit polls predict a clear victory for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, while forecasting a defeat for the Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena alliance. Polls also predict results for Pune and Thane.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated corporator Ritu Tawade for the Mumbai mayor election, while its ally Shiv Sena declared Sanjay Ghadi as its candidate for the deputy mayor's post.
Pawar, who described himself as the national president of the NCP, said employment, economic empowerment of all sections of the society, education, health, implementation of all welfare measures are the priority of the government.
The Bombay High Court has questioned the police investigation into a land deal, asking why Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's son, Parth Pawar, has not been named in the FIR.
NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto also claimed that the party working president Supriya Sule and state unit chief Jayant Patil are contacting all the 53 MLAs and the picture will become clearer by Monday.
Maharashtra minister's announcement regarding the disbursement of financial aid under the Ladki Bahin Yojana before Makar Sankranti has triggered a controversy, with the Opposition alleging a violation of the Model Code of Conduct ahead of municipal elections. The State Election Commission has sought a report on the matter.
The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has made significant progress in challenging the Thackeray family's control over Mumbai's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after nearly 25 years. The results mark a potential shift in Mumbai's civic politics, with the BJP emerging as a central force.
An editorial in the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray mouthpiece Saamana claimed the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has not only 'muddied' politics of Maharashtra but also of the country.
Shinde said his new deputy Ajit Pawar has chosen the path of development and expressed his faith in the leadership of Modi.
A day after joining the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday went to meet Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss allocation of portfolios in the cabinet, sources said.
'For the past several years, Supriya is in Delhi. I am active in state politics. I have responsibility of the state since I am the leader of opposition'
Speculation about Ajit Pawar's next political move started swirling last week when he suddenly cancelled his scheduled meetings and also made comments which were seen as being soft on the Bharatiya Janata Party and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's camp.
The real surprise in these results came from Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM. Of the 29 Muslim candidates who got elected to the 227-strong BMC, the Congress and the AIMIM between them bagged 22.
Days after the controversial 40-acre Pune land deal by a firm linked to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's son, a now-suspended tehsildar issued an eviction notice to the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), a long-standing tenant on the property
Thackeray said that Ajit Pawar should pay his uncle the same kind of attention he pays outside.
'We know these are mind games Ajit dada is playing, but he (Sharad Pawar) doesn't get swayed by such gestures.'
