Exit polls predict a clear victory for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, while forecasting a defeat for the Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena alliance. Polls also predict results for Pune and Thane.
Amid speculation in political circles over Shiv Sena's stand vis-a-vis the next mayor of Mumbai, party leader and minister Uday Samant said the civic body polls were contested as the Mahayuti alliance.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated corporator Ritu Tawade for the Mumbai mayor election, while its ally Shiv Sena declared Sanjay Ghadi as its candidate for the deputy mayor's post.
Shinde also emphasised that Mumbai will have a Mahayuti mayor, dismissing reports of new political equations after the results of the civic polls were declared last week.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said all was well between the BJP and Shiv Sena. He was speaking to newsmen after a luncheon meet with the Sena's Lok Sabha members led by Udhav Thackeray.
Ajit Pawar criticised Patil, a senior BJP leader, for his remarks two days after polling in the Baramati Lok Sabha seat in Pune district concluded.
The 25-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena alliance split on Thursday amid continued deadlock over seat-sharing for the October 15 Maharashtra assembly polls.
In the post on X, Mahajan said, "I will be indebted to the family-like people from Mumbai North Central who treated me not just as an MP but gave me affection like a daughter."
There are states that could swing either way and change the results of the 2024 general election.
Thackeray also slammed the "Owaisi brothers" (AIMIM leaders) for allegedly ridiculing the names of Hindu gods.
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.
In Aurangabad, Shiv Sena bagged 29 seats, BJP 22 while the MIM, who made its debut, bagged 25 seats.
The advertisement carries Sena's bow-and-arrow symbol and images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Shinde. It has no image or photo of Shiv Sena founder late Balasaheb Thackeray, a noticeable departure going by its earlier publicity materials.
'They want to win 45 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra in the 2024 general elections and joining hands with Ajit Pawar is in that direction.'
With organisations like the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which is a front of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, telling Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman they want OPS back, the government is in a bind, report Shiva Rajora and Aditi Phadnis.
Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Gopinath Munde on Thursday said rebellion in the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance might work in favour of the saffron combine.
The over two-decade old BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is intact and the two parties will contest the Lok Sabha polls together, BJP President Rajnath Singh said in Mumbai on Tuesday.
On being asked about the delay in forming government in the state, Raut took a jibe at Haryana Deputy Chief Minister and Jannayak Janata Party leader Dushyant Chautala. "We do not have any Dushyant here whose father is inside the jail. Here it's us who do politics of dharma and satya (righteousness and truth). Maharashtra has very complicated politics," said Raut.
After oscillating over 486 points, the 30-share Sensex settled 38.44 points, or 0.10 per cent, lower at 39,020.39. It hit an intra-day low of 38,840.76 and a high of 39,327.15.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said he had proposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership to make Eknath Shinde, who had rebelled against the Shiv Sena leadership, the new chief minister after the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government last week.
Uddhav Thackeray and his followers have the option to stop riding a tiger and commence work around a more meaningful and enduring political ideology. It is an option Eknath Shinde's side may not have, supported as they were by the BJP, to maintain continuity of the old Sena, argues Shyam G Menon.
It was not a one-way ride up though for the man who now could potentially become the BJP's national president over time.
Three MLAs abstained, while 20 legislators, most of them from Congress and the NCP, including Congress's Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar, both former ministers, were absent during the trust vote.
The exit polls have predicted the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance getting elected in Maharashtra but have differed in their projection of a number of seats.
Prasad dismissed accusations that BJP was committing "murder of democracy" by entering into an alliance with a group of NCP and referred to Shiv Sena joining hands with the Congress.
The Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana has joined the saffron alliance in Maharashtra. Will the votes it brings to the table loosen the political hold of the entrenched Maratha-dominated sugar barons of the NCP-Congress in western Maharashtra?
Maharashtra and Haryana voted in assembly elections on Monday. Several prominent personalities also exercised their franchise.
'I would like to express my anger at the way party affairs have been handled by some people.'
Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday termed as "unfortunate" Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's decision to boycott Prime Minister Narendra Modi's programme in Nagpur and said Congress should introspect why people are "unhappy" with the state leadership.
A pre-poll survey on Thursday projected Naredra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party sweeping Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka and the party-led National Democratic Alliance giving a big jolt to ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha elections.
BJP president Amit Shah's influence in the Narendra Modi cabinet revamp was evident from the inclusion of Jagat Prakash Nadda, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.
The Sena appeared firm on its demand that the chief minister's post should be shared by the two allies for two-and-a-half years each.
Riding on the Narendra Modi wave, the Bharatiya Janata Party has crossed the century mark in the state assembly polls in Maharashtra, a feat achieved last by the Congress party in 1990.
Shah said that no one objected when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he publicly said that Devendra Fadnavis would be the chief minister if the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance wins the assembly polls in Maharashtra.
The Congress will only survive if it can transform into something more like the BJP used to be: A coalition of strong state leaders held together by shared ideology or personal loyalty, suggests Mihir S Sharma.
In the second phase on April 18, 97 seats,spread across 13 states and one Union Territory, will go to the polls.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena alliance looked set to return to power in Maharashtra while Haryana could be a cliffhanger with no clear majority for the BJP or the Congress, Election Commission trends indicated.
As its own national worth augments the BJP might decide to be more cautious with its local allies.
With the BJP backing off from the race, the onus to form government now rests with the Sena, which has indicated that it might rope in the Congress and the NCP to prop up a government.
Late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray made BJP leaders remove posters that proclaimed Modi, then CM of Gujarat, as the 'Hindu Hriday Samrat'.
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