"Balasaheb sent Raj a bouquet of flowers and they spoke on the phone this morning, as they do every year on Raj'sbirthday," a source close to Raj said in Mumbai.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Rahul Narwekar was on Monday elected unopposed as the speaker of the 15th Maharashtra legislative assembly.
Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's 2nd death anniversary on Monday saw BJP reaching out to Sena with a promise to construct a memorial befitting the leader's stature as it brought together the squabbling claimants to his legacy-son and successor Uddhav and nephew Raj of MNS.
The Shiv Sena chief's comments come in the background of reports that the BJP is keen to allow the NCP to enter the NDA.
Uddhav Thackeray, who played the bold gambit of taking on the ally Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019 and forged an unlikely alliance with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, was on Saturday left struggling to make sense of his party's rout in the Maharashtra assembly elections.
Sena sources said Thackeray's son Uddhav will not be present during the meeting.
The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, whose elected members assaulted Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Azmi in the Maharashtra assembly for taking oath in Hindi, on Tuesday warned him on speaking against Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
The Shiv Sena chief said there is still ample time for the formation of the next government and he had not yet decided about the chief ministerial candidate. He ruled out any race for leadership within the Sena.
Raj was dubbed as 'Dhanajirao' -- a euphemism for one who is wealthy or hankers after money -- by his uncle and Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.
A ruling Shiv Sena leader has predicted a "major political earthquake" in Maharashtra on January 23, the birth anniversary of Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray, claiming that 10 to 15 MLAs from the opposition Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT) will switch sides and join the party led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The prediction comes amidst reports of discontent within the ruling coalition in the state.
'Those seeking short-term benefits are joining the Shinde-led Sena and the ones looking at long-term benefits are joining the BJP.'
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In an editorial of Sena newspaper Samna, the senior Thackeray claimed that some of the terrorists arrested in the Jamia Nagar Batla House encounter were activists of Samajwadi Party and for this reason the party should be uprooted for the sake of the country's interest.
The last rites of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray will be performed at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai, where he had addressed his followers for over four decades.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, who has been in a local hospital for a week, would remain there for another two-thee days, doctors attending him said.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said he will extend all possible cooperation to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and will work as a team. Addressing a news conference, Shinde described his tenure as chief minister as very successful and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for their support. He also said the Mahayuti government secured a majority in the recent elections. Shinde said that when he was the chief minister, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar extended cooperation to him and they worked as a team. He added that he will now be "dedicated to the common man" 24 x 7. In the first cabinet meeting after the swearing-in ceremony, officials were instructed to disburse the next instalment of the Ladki Bahin scheme to beneficiaries. Shinde also rubbished all talk of him being upset over not being made chief minister. He pointed out that 39 Shiv Sena MLAs were with him when he led a revolt in 2022, and today, the party has 57 MLAs, which he asserted was a seal of approval from the people. Shinde was given a rousing welcome at Anand Ashram, the headquarters of the Shiv Sena in Thane, following the swearing-in ceremony. Several hundred party workers thronged the area carrying placards and shouting slogans in his praise.
The respective Dussehra rallies of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray were once again about whose version of Hindutva is genuine and who is the true inheritor of party patriarch Bala Thackeray's legacy.
Rubbishing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray's 'hollow sympathy' for him over the Lok Sabha's privileges committee summons issue, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Wednesday told his nephew that he need not bother."We are competent to tackle the case. You should not worry," Thackeray said in an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.Raj has threatened not to allow officials and people's representative from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to enter Mumbai.
"I have decided not to shave off the beard till we win the assembly elections in Maharashtra," the Shiv Sena chief has said.
Jaidev, who has challenged the validity of his father's 2011 will, stunned the courtroom by saying, for the first time, that 'Aishwarya is not my son'.
In the past, Thackeray has expressed disappointment claiming "delay in the disqualification" of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde after the Bal Thackeray-founded party split in June 2022.
Kumar had sought central university status for it in keeping with public sentiments.
Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant has demanded that party supremo Bal Thackeray should be accorded the status of a 'national hero'.
Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray was locked in a war of words on Friday with social activist Anna Hazare who was warned not to indulge in 'enmity' and pick up a fight after the Gandhian mocked Shiv Sena chief's old age.
"Thank God, we don't have a Bal Thackeray here," declared Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Saturday, while calling Delhi a unique city where people from across the country can live comfortably. In an apparent reference to the attacks against north Indians in Mumbai by members of the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Dikshit said, "Everyone knows what is happening in Mumbai. It certainly does not happen here. Thank God, we don't have a Bal Thackeray here."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress and its allies of plotting to have a separate Constitution for Kashmir and working to restore Article 370. Addressing a rally in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, Modi claimed the Congress is speaking the language of Pakistan and that every Indian wants only Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution in Kashmir. He also highlighted the BJP's fulfillment of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's wish by renaming Aurangabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, emphasizing the Congress's opposition to the decision. Modi further contrasted the BJP's focus on national pride and development with the Congress's alleged support for Aurangzeb. He pointed out the BJP's achievements in granting classical language status to Marathi and attracting maximum FDI in Maharashtra after forming the Mahayuti government.
A little over a year after the death of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, his sons Uddhav and Jaidev are locked in a legal row over property worth crores left behind by the party patriarch.
Uddhav Thackeray claimed the new Narendra Modi government at the Centre, which was sworn in on June 9, will collapse and will be replaced by an INDIA bloc dispensation.
Shinde also said a party grows when leaders reach out to the grassroot worker rather than sitting at home.
The meeting in New Delhi etc is just the BJP being nice to the man who helped it realise its dream by stabbing Uddhav in the back, notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
While workers of the Shiv Sena shouted that the party belongs to them, those owing allegiance to Uddhav Thackeray responded with "traitors go back" slogans.
The MNS joining the BJP-led alliance in Maharashtra could help it with a 'Thackeray versus Thackeray' narrative, fielding Raj Thackeray, an articulate speaker, to take on his cousin Uddhav Thackeray.
Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, convicted in the US for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, on Thursday told a court in Mumbai that terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba wanted to eliminate Bal Thackeray but the person who was assigned the job to kill the late Shiv Sena chief was arrested.
A host of high-profile personalities from the world of politics and business on Sunday paid homage to late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on his first death anniversary at the ShivajiPark grounds in Mumbai.
A product of the 1942 Quit India movement, a Gandhian and a Socialist who remains closely connected with grassroot movements, Dr G G Parikh remains a familiar figure in Maharashtra.
An alleged attack on a Marathi-speaking family by a government employee in Thane district sparked outrage in the Maharashtra Assembly, where the BJP-led government assured justice and condemned the incident. Opposition parties demanded immediate action against the accused, Akhilesh Shukla, and his wife, who have been arrested. The incident has raised concerns about discrimination against Marathi people and fueled tensions in the state.
While Uddhav Thackeray will address his party's Dussehra rally at the sprawling Shivaji Park in Dadar, the traditional venue of the event where Bal Thackeray charged up his workers with his fiery oratory for more than four decades, Shinde's rally will be at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday demanded that Chief Justice India D Y Chandrachud recuse himself from the cases tied to the disqualification petitions concerning rebel Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party MLAs.
Shiv Sena leader and former MP Rahul Shewale said around 2 lakh people are expected to attend the rally at Azad Maidan to hear the CM.
'The Congress cannot speak the BJP's words while targeting Kejriwal.' 'What is the difference between the two? Where is the unity of INDIA then?'
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