'There are legions of unemployed degree holders across rural and semi-urban belts in Maharashtra. Now, they aren't finding brides.' 'This issue has now snowballed into a social crisis. In 2014 and 2019, they had voted for the BJP.'
'The BJP alliance needs to handle the Maratha quota issue skilfully and address its root cause, which is agrarian distress. Then there is stalled industrialisation. If these issues are addressed, caste fault lines would wither away. But, this is next to impossible in a short span of three-four months.'
Shinde also said directives will be issued to give the Kunbi caste certificates to blood relatives of a person who already possesses similar documents.
Displaying a washing machine on its press conference dais, the Congress on Saturday taunted the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filing a closure report in a 2017 corruption case against Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel and said the ruling party's 'fully automatic washing machine' works on the principle -- 'join BJP, case closed'.
'I am not a person who would do such things from behind the scenes.' 'I don't believe in taking somebody else's support for speaking out my mind.'
Twenty-four deaths, including that of 12 infants, have been reported in the last 24 hours in a government hospital in Nanded, a top Maharashtra health official said on Monday.
'Modi is not assuring the nation that if he gets back to power in 2024 and remains in power till 2029, he will not change the Constitution.'
The development assumes significance as Congress' ally Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar group) had named Jitendra Awhad as the new LoP in the assembly following a split in the party due to Ajit Pawar's rebellion last month.
Earlier, 24 deaths were reported at the Dr Shankarrao Chavan Government Medical College and Hospital in Nanded in 24 hours between September 30 and October 1. Twelve of the 24 deceased were infants, a top Maharashtra health department official said on Monday.
Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20. Counting of votes will be held on June 4.
Speculation is rife in political circles over the past few days that he is likely to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
The contrast between the two meetings couldn't have been more stark, yet, both were organically linked, the latter a show of support for the former.
The two-day deliberations, which will be held at Grand Hyatt in the suburbs, will begin in the evening of August 31 and from 10am on September 1. The meeting will be followed by a press conference, Raut informed.
Activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday reiterated that he will stop drinking water from Wednesday evening if his demand for reservation to the Maratha community is not fulfilled by the Maharashtra government.
Approximately 80 leaders from more than 26 political parties are expected to attend the third meeting of the INDIA alliance in the country's financial capital, they said.
Amid the ongoing tussle between Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and party veteran Balasaheb Thorat in the wake of recent legislative council elections, both the leaders came face to face at the party's state executive committee meeting in Mumbai on Wednesday, with both of them later claiming that everything was fine between them.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday announced that Jalna district superintendent of police, Tushar Doshi, is sent on compulsory leave, two days after protesters demanding Maratha quota were baton-charged, triggering violence.
A protest for Maratha reservation in Jalna district of central Maharashtra turned violent on Friday, leading to dozens of persons including police personnel getting injured, officials said.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is leading the 3,570km-long foot-march, expressed grief over the death of Seva Dal general secretary Krishna Kumar Pandey.
The Congress on Wednesday released a list of 40 leaders who would be the party's star campaigners for the May 10 assembly elections.
In a big political win for Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday held that the Shiv Sena faction led by him was the "real political party" when rival groups emerged in June 2022, and did not disqualify any MLA from the two camps, a verdict that adds another chapter in the Sena legacy war.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has credited late Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh with having proper understanding and maturity to lead a coalition government in Maharashtra, and said he had doubts on the capability of Prithviraj Chavan under whose leadership the Congress-NCP alliance lost power to the BJP in 2014 after ruling for 15 years.
Pawar said no one gave such a proposal to the Nationalist Congress Party.
The alliance would announce a coordination committee, which could be of 11 members from principal opposition parties.
'When the chief minister saw how Manoj Jarange Patil had successfully held the state government hostage to his whims, Eknath Shinde knew he had a very clear chance of enamouring himself to these Maratha agitators by accepting Patil's demands.'
When he plied an autorickshaw in Thane in the late 1980s did Eknath Shambhaji Shinde ever dream that he would one day be chief minister of one of the wealthiest states in the Indian Union?
Ahead of the Mumbai meeting, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said that a few more political parties were likely to join the opposition INDIA during its upcoming meeting.
Meanwhile, Opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi said the verdict will determine if democracy "exists" in the country and judiciary "functions" independently.
Uddhav Thackeray dared PM Modi to fulfil Savarkar's dream of "akhand Bharat"
"Sharad Pawar's presence has extraordinary importance when a new battle for freedom is going on in the country to save the Constitution and democracy, and in such a situation, Pawar should not step aside," he said.
Pawar, who was also the deputy CM in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, which was in power from November 2019 to June 2022, enjoys the image of a grassroot leader and an able administrator.
The unlikely power sharing agreement between the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress had fizzled out in June following large-scale dissidence in the Sena ranks.
Shelar demanded that Desai's death should not be treated just as a case of accidental death, but must be dealt with from a larger perspective.
While Narvekar represents Colaba assembly constituency in Mumbai, Salvi is the MLA from Rajapur segment in Ratnagiri district.
He targeted the BJP, saying it gave the option to Opposition to either join them or go to jail.
Leader of Opposition in the assembly Ajit Pawar (NCP) and fellow NCP leader Dilip Walse- Patil, who was home minister in the previous MVA government, too have been given 'Y-plus-escort' cover.
Congress legislature party leader said the MVA is on a stronger wicket legally.
Here are some of quotes from Uddhav Thackeray's resignation speech.
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