The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have intensified their investigations against Gaurav Mehta, a suspect in a Bitcoin Ponzi scam, following allegations that politicians may have been involved in using cryptocurrency to influence Maharashtra assembly polls. The ED searched Mehta's residence in Raipur and seized computers and digital devices. The CBI summoned him to appear before investigators. The ED is probing Mehta's potential links to politicians, politically exposed persons, and bureaucrats as part of its money laundering probe. The allegations came after BJP released purported voice notes suggesting that Congress and NCP leaders were attempting to use cryptocurrency for election campaigning. Both parties denied the claims, calling the voice notes fake.
'If you look at the average age of all our candidates, you will notice that their average age is between 35 and 40. It is a kind of revolution that the MNS is bringing in Maharashtra.'
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole claimed Thackeray had selected a candidate finalised by Congress for the Nashik Teachers' constituency without consulting coalition partners.
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.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday arrived at Vidhan Bhavan talking to each other and greeting assembled mediapersons together.
The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) on Monday said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's attack on freedom fighter V D Savarkar will lead to ebbing of sympathy he has gained due to his disqualification as Lok Sabha MP.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) on Tuesday claimed 22 MLAs and nine MPs from the rival Shiv Sena were feeling suffocated due to the "step-motherly treatment" by the Bharatiya Janata Party and could quit the group led by Maharashtra Chief minister Eknath Shinde.
Thackeray wondered why the BJP has not fielded any member of the Lokmanya Tilak family for the Kasba bypoll.
Shinde's appeal came after Sena workers loyal to party president and Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray staged protests against the rebel MLAs led by him.
As the fate of the Maharashtra government hangs in balance, the state cabinet on Wednesday approved the renaming of Aurangabad city as Sambhajinagar, and that of Osmanabad city as Dharashiv.
Amid simmering tension at the Karnataka-Maharashtra border, the police on Monday foiled the Madhyavarti Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti's (MMES) mega protest in Belagavi and detained its leaders even as several members from opposition parties from Maharashtra were stopped from crossing the border.
He targeted the BJP, saying it gave the option to Opposition to either join them or go to jail.
'My father groomed these people and Shiv Sainiks supported them. But now they want to become owners and our institutions are such that they have made a thief the owner of the house. What is happening in the country'
He said the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of three parties -- Sena-UBT, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party -- was formed to protect democracy and it was necessary to work unitedly for it.
The BJP on Wednesday also named its in-charges for assembly bypolls to four seats in Tripura.
It will be the first assembly byelection after the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra in June, making it a litmus test of his faction's hold over the Sena's vote bank in Mumbai.
While Fadnavis has admitted that the letter was sent to him in good faith, he said that he would have to discuss with the party leadership before taking a decision.
Raut's reaction came after former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said that BJP and Shiv Sena are 'not enemies'.
"The time for offers has ended," the Shiv Sena leader said, when asked about reports that the BJP had agreed to share the CM's post with the Sena.
After receiving the PM, Thackeray left for Mumbai, state government officials said.
Calling for a trust vote merely on the ground of differences between MLAs of a ruling party can topple an elected government, the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday, adding that the governor of a state cannot lend his office to effectuate a particular result.
"She (Latke) is your (BMC) employee...You should be helping her out," the court said.
'The Shiv Sena and the Ambedkarites are two powerful social forces in Maharashtra with a presence in the toiling classes. However, they were made to fight each other by the powers that be. Now, they are joining hands while overcoming this contentious past.'
She was elected unopposed as Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party did not field their candidates for the posts.
Addressing the annual Dussehra rally at the iconic Shivaji Park ground in Mumbai, Thackeray lashed out at Shinde, whose rebellion in June this year brought down the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in the state.
'The BJP has 106 MLAs and Eknath Shinde claims the support of 40 MLAs. So why are they both not forming the government right now in Mumbai? Why the delay?' Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf reports.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has recognised Rahul Shewale as the Shiv Sena leader in the Lower House of Parliament.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction on Monday approached the Delhi high court seeking quashing of the order of the Election Commission of India (ECI) freezing the party name and election symbol.
Hearing a petition by former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray against the Election Commission's interim order freezing Shiv Sena's name and election symbol, the Delhi high court on Monday asked why it should not wait for the final decision of the poll panel on the dispute between the party factions.
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.
Asked if he represented views of his party amid the logjam over government formation in the state, Raut said, "I put forth views of Uddhav Thackeray."
According to sources, all the three Shiv Sena MPs in the Rajya Sabha have been allocated seats on the opposition side, while in the Lok Sabha it is yet to be done.
The MLAs of the three ruling parties and the BJP have reached Mumbai ahead of the elections.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, on Saturday, questioned Obama's knowledge about India and said that a foreign politician cannot give such opinions on Indian political leaders.
"Dear respected honourable @NCIndia president Sonia Gandhi ji being a woman arn't you anguished by the treatment I am given by your government in Maharashtra? Can you not request your Government to uphold the principles of the Constitution given to us by Dr Ambedkar?" the actor posted on Twitter.
'The message the BJP is sending is that they are in no way responsible for Uddhav's downfall and it was only Shinde who is to be blamed.'
'Badle ki bhavna (revengeful politics) was never seen in Maharashtra and Indian politics, but now we are witnessing all that today.'
Fadnavis asserted that no decision had been taken over sharing the CM's post 'in my presence'.
Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar said farmers as well as the NCP and other parties are opposed to the new bills. "Farmers think that the laws are not beneficial for them. There was no hurry (to pass them)," he said.
'Maharashtra governor did not do anything that was contrary to the Supreme Court's decision.'
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