Maharashtra assembly witnessed scenes of pandemonium on Monday as Members of Legislative Assembly of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena tried to prevent Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi from taking oath in Hindi.The MNS MLAs, who had earlier demanded that all legislators take their oaths in Marathi, created a ruckus the moment Azmi started taking his oath.Azmi was reportedly hit by MNS MLA Ram Kadam. The House was adjourned for 20 minutes following the ruckus.
Ashok Chavan was sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister at the head of 26-member Congress-Nationalist Congress Party ministry in Mumbai on Saturday evening, two weeks after the assembly elections results were declared.
Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, former chief minister of the state, had a meeting with Gandhi on the issue. Chief Minister Ashok Chavan also arrived in New Delhi in the evening for talks with central leaders.
Maharashtra is set to get a new government on Tuesday as Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and his deputy Chhagan Bhujbal are expected to take oath of office.
However, incumbent Chief Minster Ashok Chavan said the Congress-NCP alliance will be looking at the Republican Party of India for possible outside support if it fell short of the majority mark.
"I leave to the party and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take a decision (on the issue of chief ministership)," Chavan said. "Collective leadership and leadership of Sonia Gandhi" has taken the party to lead in the assembly seats in the state, he added.
In its internal assessment, the Congress hopes to get around 91 seats, while it expects the NCP to get 49 to 51 seats. The coalition will need at least 145 MLAs for a simple majority to form the government in the 288-seat Maharashtra Assembly. The coalition is confident that it will manage some independent MLAs and small parties to keep its government afloat.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Friday said the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine stands a good chance of returning to power after the October 13 assembly elections as the Opposition in the state was in a state of complete disarray. "We are going to people again on our performance. But, at the same time, we will also benefit because the opposition camp is in disarray," Chavan said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Thursday said his ministerial colleague Sunil Deshmukh would face disciplinary action by the party if he contests against Rajendrasingh Shekhawat, son of President Pratibha Patil, in the October 13 assembly elections.
The new facility was completed within 13 months and is among the fastest green-field projects to be created. Spread across an area of 100 acres of land and with independent assembly facilities for passenger cars and commercial vehicles, the infrastructure can address future expansion, underscoring the long-term growth plans of the company in India.
Unruly scenes were witnessed on Thursday at Shivneri fort, around 100 km from Pune, when Maharashta Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's helicopter landed there on the occasion of the birth anniversary celebration of Chhatrapati Shivaji.
"MSC Chitra has tilted 80 degrees and the total oil spill is nearly 50 tons, Arun Singh, Commandant (Operations), Coast Guard told PTI.
"Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, during his recent visit to New Delhi, met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and proposed the separate force of marine police to guard the coastal area of the state," Additional Chief Secretary of Home Department, Chandra Iyengar said on Tuesday.
"Come to India, invest in India and let India emerge as a stronger nation," was Chavan's message to all the overseas Indians who attended the chief ministers' conclave on the concluding day of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2010. Chavan's statement was well received by all overseas Indians present at the venue.
The Maharashtra government has decided to approach the Supreme Court after the Bombay high court struck down the 'best of five' system for admissions in Class XI on the ground that it was discriminatory.
A woman died of electrocution as incessant heavy rains lashed the city and catchment areas, sending the Mithi river close to danger mark and inundating low-lying areas and disrupting air, rail and road traffic.
Francis Gomes, accused of confining his wife and two daughters for seven years at their house in Mumbai's suburban Vasai, has written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, demanding that he be allowed to meet his family. Gomes, who is suffering from schizophrenia, has written a ten-page letter to Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, requesting that he should be reunited with his wife and daughters.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Wednesday defended the proposal to name Mumbai's Bandra-Worli sealink after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Chavan, along with Deputy Chief Minister Chagan Bhujbal, met the prime minister at his Parliament House office to discuss in detail the security scenario in Maharashtra.
The police do not have it in them to confront the Hindutva groups in a country ruled by a Hindutva party. No wonder Munawar Faruqui feels this is the end for him, asserts Jyoti Punwani.
Chief Minister designate Ashok Chavan on Friday met Governor S C Jamir and staked claim to form the next government, 15 days after the Congress-NCP haggled over the portfolio issue.
The war of words between Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Raj Thackeray in poll-bound Maharashtra has intensified with the former saying the MNS chief should act in a movie by Karan Johar and the latter calling the Congress leader "brainless".
Speaking at a book release function on Wednesday in Mumbai, Thackeray said that it was Bhatt who had given false and misleading information to Chief Minister Ashok Chavan that lead to the filing of FIR against his party men. "I will show Mahesh Bhatt who I am the day he comes in my range," said Thackeray.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has denied allegations it was trying to wean away MLAs from other parties.
Former Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, whose suspension from Congress was revoked recently, was today inducted into the over two-month-old Ashok Chavan led Congress-NCP ministry.
The Maharashtra chief minister, Ashok Chavan on Thursday said he would convene an all-party meeting next week to decide on the contentious issue of reservations for the Maratha community.
The Maharashtra government, reeling under criticism over handling of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, has received another jolt with the widow of former Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare saying the state police force is ill-equipped to fight terrorists.
Preliminary information suggests that this "seems to be some sort of a blast," Chavan said. Forensic experts have reached the spot, he said. The Pune police commissioner has said that till the entire place is searched, it won't be all right to comment, he added
It was Rahul Gandhi's day out in Mumbai as he hopped out on to a local train and mingled with the people of Mumbai. Rahul's little detour send turned out to be a nightmare for Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who set alarm bells ringing all the way to Delhi and forced Sonia Gandhi out of the Congress Working Committee meeting, being held at 24 Akbar Road.
"This incident is really unfortunate. I feel there was total negligence on part of those who admitted her to the hospital and negligence on part of the hospital," the chief minister, who discussed the issue with senior health officials in Mumbai on Monday night, said.
Maharashtra's special security force of commandos, created to combat terror attacks, is expected to be ready in the next 60 days, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said on Monday. The Force one, to be drawn from the state police, is expected to be on the lines of the elite National Security Guards and will be equipped with sophisticated weapons to tackle terror attacks like the recent Mumbai terror strikes.
The Congress leader later tweeted an apology.
Maharashtra, which has witnessed a number of terror attacks with the latest being on Mumbai, has demanded constitution of a Central Coastal Security Authority.
In a last-ditch effort to patch up, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Monday, held closed-door meeting with rebel Congress leader Narayan Rane who is set to announce his future plans on Tuesday.
The central government has approved the Maharashtra government's proposal of importing modern arms worth Rs 125 crore, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said. Chavan said on Sunday night that he has also received a letter from Union Home Minister giving instructions on various security issues. According to the instructions a high level home department meeting was held, he said.
Amid reports of some states reacting adversely to the 'tone and language' of a letter sent by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on enhancing security in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, the Maharashtra government has said that it would promptly act on his suggestions."We welcome the steps suggested by the Union Home Minister. In fact, we have already started acting on the letter dated December 17," a senior government official said.
The Maharashtra government will set up a special court in consultation with the chief justice of Bombay High Court, to try cases related to the Mumbai terror attack, state Home Minister Jayant Patil said on Wednesday.Patil also said that the chargesheet against perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks will be filed within seven days. Advocate Ujwal Nikam, who shot to fame during the 1993 serial blasts trial, has been appointed as special public prosecutor in the case.
Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane on Friday lashed out at the Congress leadership, after state Industry Minister Ashok Chavan beat him to the chief minister's post."Chavan cannot handle even his ministry. He can't be my competitor for the CM's post, he said, adding that he was opting out of the chief ministerial race.Rane, a well-known detractor of former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, also accused the Congress high command of reneging on its promise.
Travelling at a speed of 300 km per hour on the Mumbai-Pune-Nagpur route may not be a distant dream for train commuters as a pre-feasibility report submitted to Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has said it is a viable proposition.
The Group has decided to withdraw the Rs 5,000-crore civil defamation suits against Congress leaders and National Herald newspaper over their statements and an article on the controversial Rafale fighter jet deal.
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