After threatening to withdraw Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray's security, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Wednesday said the Sena- Shah Rukh Khan controversy should be resolved by 'mutual understanding'. On reports that the advance booking for 'My Name is Khan' is being closed my multiplex owners apparently due to Sena threats, Chavan said the police are taking care of their security concerns.
Praja Rajyam Party president K Chiranjeevi on Wednesday requested the Maharashtra government to extend an invitation to Andhra Pradesh for a dialogue on the controversial Babhli irrigation project and allow an all-party delegation from the state to inspect the site.
Tension prevailing on the Andhra-Maharashtra border in Nizamabad district for the last three days over Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu's arrest on Sunday took a turn with the Maharashtra police crossing in to the neighbouring state's area and targeting Telugu Desam Party supporters.
Amid the heat over Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary dispute, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought to mollify Maharashtra by indicating that steps would be taken to protect the rights of linguistic minorities in border areas.
Unhappy with the bickering within the ruling coalition of the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan exhorted his ministers to adhere to the 'coalition dharma'.
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had signed the suspension order of five police officials -- Salve, Assistant Commisioner of Police Prakash Wani, Senior Inspector Tulsidas Khakar, Inspector Khalatkar and Constable Talu Salunke, an official in the Chief Minister's office said.
Though we have a debt burden of Rs 180,000 crore, the economic condition of the state is stable and healthy. This is due to efficient fiscal management and effective monitoring of expenditure, says the Maharashtra chief minister.
With just a day to go for the biennial Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, Chief Minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan is confident that the three candidates nominated by his party would win. There are 11 candidates in fray for 10 vacant seats, giving indications that the elections will be fought very hard.
Turning the table on the opposition, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra has now raised doubts over the very authenticity of the Ram Pradhan panel report that was leaked to media recently.
There is more trouble ahead for former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, who is an accused in the Adarsh scam
The Congress virtually gagged its Maharashtra leaders on the issue of the housing society scam, in which Chief Minister Ashok Chavan is under scanner.
Starting a blame game, Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said it was Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan as the then Revenue Minister who asked the controversial housing society involved in a scam in Mumbai to change the bye-laws to include civilians in it.
A decision by the Congress party on Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's resignation in the wake of an embarrassing housing scam in Mumbai is expected to take some more time.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan is in trouble over the Adarsh Housing Society scam. While he met Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday and gave her the entire information on the housing society, sources say that the chief minister may not be losing power soon as is being speculated, with United States President Barrack Obama arriving in Mumbai on November 5 for a high decibel visit.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday circumvented all controversial domestic political issues, including those that surround Telecom Minister A Raja, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's alleged role in the Adarsh Society scam, and the Commonwealth Games fiasco, but assured that he would look into the matter once he returns to India and then make any meaningful comment on it.
Maharashtra's beleaguered Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Saturday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi after his name cropped up in a controversy surrounding the Adarsh housing society in Mumbai. Earlier, Sonia met Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, political secretary to the Congress president Ahmed Patel, All India Congress Committee general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi and Union minister Prithviraj Chavan over the issue.
Senior Nationalist Congress Party Minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil is among the seven members of the Ashok Chavan government who have lost the assembly elections in Maharashtra.
Shiv Sena executive pPresident Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday appealed to party activists to maintain peace on September 24, when the controversial Babri Masjid verdict is expected."The Sainiks have been instructed to maintain peace after the Babri-Ayodhya verdict and we will cooperate with the government," Uddhav said after he met party leaders to discuss the issue.
After the controversy over their joint appearance at the inauguration of Bandra-Worli sealink in Mumbai, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has decide not to share the dais with superstar Amitabh Bachchan at a Marathi literary meet in Pune.
Two persons of foreign origin have entered into Mumbai and are trying to cause disturbances, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy have warned.
The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) on Monday said that Reliance Infrastructure-Hyundai consortium would build the sealink between Worli and Haji Ali.
One person has been arrested from Nashik and another detained from Jalgaon in connection with the threat call made at the residence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan. "One Abdul Gani Shah has been arrested from Nashik. According to the preliminary inquiry, he made the call to the CM's residence from outside Dheolali railway station. We have recovered eight SIM cards from him and a diary containing the telephone numbers of several ministers," said ATS chief.
Maharashtra Congress leaders on Tuesday met at Defence Minister AK Antony's residence to discuss seat-sharing formula for the October's assembly elections. Maharashtra's Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, former chief minister Narayan Rane, Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Mumbai Congress chief Kripa Shankar Singh attended the meeting.
The Centre is unhappy with the manner in which certain information was made public by Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad chief K P Raghuvanshi after the arrest of two suspects planning to carry out terror attacks in Mumbai, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said on Wednesday.
The Maharashtra government has found "some irregularities" in Lavasa, the country's first planned hill city project, and would take action if its probe proved any wrongdoing, a senior state minister said.
After pleas for an early clearance to the long-pending Navi Mumbai airport project, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said he would personally look into the issue to resolve the matter at the earliest.
In an apparent bid to put pressure on the Congress high command over "injustice" against former chief minister Ashok Chavan a group of 40 Congress MLAs from Maharashtra are planning to meet party President Sonia Gandhi with a charter of demand in a couple of days.
The trigger is the state government's recent approval for a floor space index of 1.33 for Mumbai city and an FSI of one for the suburbs.
A day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said his government would recommend Bharat Ratna for Sachin Tendulkar, the Shiv Sena also batted for the country's highest civilian honour for the cricket icon on Saturday.
Alleging a failure by the Maharashtra government to act on inputs from central intelligence agencies of a possible terror strike in Pune, Opposition Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party MPs walked out of a meeting convened by Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan to raise the state's issues in Parliament.
Continuing his tirade against Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray today asked whether the Congress leader was the CM of Maharashtra or Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's bodyguard.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Monday disapproved of Union minister Sharad Pawar's meeting with Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, making it clear that his government was 'competent enough' to give adequate security to IPL matches."I do not think there is need to take permission from any other authority in the state. There cannot be an extra-constitutional authority," Chavan told reporters, adding, "the government is competent, it is the authority."
Maharashtra Chief Minster Ashok Chavan on Thursday condemned Uddhav and Raj Thackeray for 'touching a new low' in politics with their comments on All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi. "Nowhere in Indian politics has such a low level of personal allegations been witnessed. I condemn their (Uddhav and Raj Thackeray) utterances," said Chavan.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Congress leaders met party chief Sonia Gandhi amid talks in state political circle about possibility of the Shiv Sena forming government in Maharashtra backed by opposition parties.
With anger against Maharashtra sweeping across Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has cancelled his visit to Sri Satya Sai Baba's Ashram in Puttaparthi slated for Wednesday.
The Maharashtra Government on Monday said TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu will not be allowed to visit the Babhli barrage site in the state.
Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, on Friday, lambasted Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan for backtracking on his statement on making knowledge of Marathi mandatory for renewing taxi permits in Mumbai and likened the political turnaround to Michael Jackson's "moonwalk".
Accusing the chief minister of watering down the Cabinet decision taken on Wednesday to make local language clause mandatory for 4000 new taxi permits to be issued by the state, Thackaray said: "More than the welfare of the people Congress CMs are more concerned about what 'Madam' (Sonia Gandhi) would think. Our CM should do a part time job with CMs from southern states to practise how to know to remain steadfast in their decisions.'
Under fire for his government's decision to give licenses only to those taxi drivers who know Marathi, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Thursday backtracked, saying taxi drivers should know any local language, including Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati. The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government on Wednesday decided to give new taxi licenses to only those persons who are well versed in Marathi and have resided in the state for at least 15 years.
The Maharashtra government will levy entertainment tax on cricket matches, including the Twenty20 matches of the third edition of Indian Premier League. 'The government has not charged any tax on the cricket matches so far and, therefore, the decision has been taken at the cabinet meeting today,' Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said.