Under fire from the Opposition for his insensitive remarks on drought and load-shedding, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Monday tendered an apology in both Houses of the state legislature, which witnessed uproarious scenes and repeated adjournments.
He clarified that Siddique was provided a non-categorised security and was allotted three police constables.
Three Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have threatened to contest as Independents from Jalna in the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls after the seat went to Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena as part of the Mahayuti's seat-sharing arrangement.
Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar working president Supriya Sule has said her party, which won just 10 seats in the Maharashtra assembly elections, will introspect over the poll results and pledged to work towards a capable, inclusive and progressive state.
'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.'
A day after the Congress' defeat in the Haryana polls, Modi called the Opposition party irresponsible and a factory to "spread hatred".
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Sunday refuted talk of his stir not being a factor in the Maharashtra assembly polls, which were swept by the Mahayuti comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party.
Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Wednesday said the Maharashtra party leadership has been asked to ensure all rebels withdraw nominations and asserted there will be no friendly fights among the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies in the state assembly polls.
His remarks come a day after Ajit Pawar apologised to the people of the state for the collapse of the structure which was installed in the coastal district's Malvan tehsil, around 480km from Mumbai.
State BJP minister Chandrakant Patil last week said Harshvardhan Patil will regret his decision to join the Pawar-led party.
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.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Wednesday asked Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena to mend ways and desist from the smear campaign against the Nationalist Congress Parry or face a "befitting reply".
Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar, who resigned as Maharashtra deputy chief minister after allegations of irregularities in irrigation projects, today launched a veiled attack on chief minister Prithviraj Chavan over 'tardy pace' of clearing files.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has stirred up a hornet's nest with his comments -- laced with crass humour -- ridiculing the acute water scarcity in the state.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said an earthquake which impacted parts of the state on Wednesday was mild, and appealed to people to stay alert and not panic as the administration was taking all precautionary steps.
Bhujbal took a veiled attack at Sharad Pawar for the opposition's boycott of an all-party meeting on the Maratha quota issue.
A total of 4,140 candidates were left in the fray for 288 Maharashtra assembly seats after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended on Monday, a poll official said.
An impressive performance in Jharkhand and, especially, Maharashtra assembly polls next month by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will lay to rest the doubts over the party's political dominance after its underwhelming performance in the Lok Sabha polls and strike a body blow to the Opposition.
Amid talks of cross-voting, three of the 37 Congress MLAs in Maharashtra skipped a meeting called by the party ahead of the legislative council polls on Friday.
Maharashtra's former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and top Nationalist Congress Party leaders Sunil Tatkare and Chhagan Bhujbal could be in for trouble after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gave a go ahead for probe against them in an alleged corruption case.
The coalition government in Maharashtra on Tuesday faced a crisis with Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar of NCP resigning in the wake of allegations of a massive irrigation scam as 20 more of his party ministers offered to quit in a bid to mount pressure on Congress.
'Money power was deployed like an army in a war.' 'None of the MVA parties had that kind of money.'
"If anyone did suggest that we should support the BJP contrary to the stand we had taken, (even) then many in the party including me did not agree with that (suggestion). Our stand not to go with the BJP was very clear," Sharad Pawar said.
The Nationalist Congress Party is livid as Shivtare continues to criticise Pawar, whose wife Sunetra is likely to contest from the Baramati Lok Sabha seat, even after meeting Shinde in Mumbai recently.
'Maharashtra election result is a chamatkar of EVM.' 'There has been a sudden one percent rise in the voting percentage after the counting day.' 'This is what made the difference to the election results.' 'How did this vote percentage increase after counting day?
I think Sharad Pawar invited Ajit Pawar for the INDIA bloc meeting, Raut said.
A group of villagers in Maharashtra's Malshiras assembly segment, who had insisted on a "re-election" with ballot papers, have relented after police intervention. The villagers, who claimed the NCP (SP) candidate, Uttam Jankar, had polled less votes in their village than the BJP candidate, Ram Satpute, had planned to hold their own "repoll" on December 3. However, police warned them of legal action, and Jankar, along with police officials, had a meeting with the villagers, who ultimately decided to drop their plan. Despite this, they plan to continue their protest by other means.
Police have launched a probe into the killing of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique from different angles, including a possible contract killing, business rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project, officials said on Sunday.
The MLA claimed his name had figured in the list of nine ministers of NCP, including Ajit Pawar who took oath last Sunday.
The Election Commission has called the rival factions of the NCP for a personal hearing on October 6 following a petition filed by the Ajit group claiming that he has been elected as the party's national president.
Surinder Dehal and Pardeep Narwal were in fine form for the Bengaluru Bulls, who inflicted an ALL-OUT on the Telugu Titans, midway through the second phase.
The development comes a day after a government resolution (GR) was issued, in which the state administration ordered disbursal of Rs 10 crore funds for strengthening the state Waqf Board.
The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Tuesday fielded Milind Narvekar, a close aide of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, in the biennial elections to 11 seats from the legislative council, taking the number of candidates in the fray to 12.
Friendly fights, however, are more complicated for the MVA, especially since smaller parties who are part of the INDIA bloc are also in the mix.
Hours after asserting that there was no split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is its leader, party chief Sharad Pawar on Friday claimed that he did not make any such statement.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Amol Mitkari said, "It could be a family meeting between the two leaders".
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday dared Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar to intimidate his party without the help of the state apparatus, saying stones can come from "our side" too in an escalating war of words between the two leaders from Maharashtra.
Former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, who was shot dead in Mumbai, was a popular figure in Bollywood circles and had earned praise for supplying life-saving medicines to patients during the Covid pandemic.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday resigned following allegations of an irrigation scam when he was state's water resource minister and said he was prepared for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe.
Speaking at a joint rally of Mahayuti partners in Mumbai, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis supported Shinde's claims, stating that the NDA leaders did not pay enough attention to the lies spread by the Opposition during the campaign.
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