Ajit Pawar became a ray of hope for Muslims, the only man in power who could resolve their grievances.
The BJP and its Mahayuti allies have won 68 seats unopposed in the Maharashtra civic polls scheduled for January 15, even as the Opposition parties alleged the ruling combine used threats and money to force candidates to withdraw from the fray.
Maharashtra heads to the polls for 29 municipal corporations, with Mumbai's BMC election taking center stage as the BJP-led Mahayuti faces off against the Thackeray front. Key issues include promises for women, pollution control, and the city's financial health.
Breaking the nearly three-decade-old dominance of the undivided Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday emerged victorious in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, and also vanquished the alliance of Nationalist Congress Party factions led by Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar in the Pune civic body.
A 14-year-old girl from Maharashtra's Palghar district has alleged that she was forcibly married to a man, sexually assaulted and made to undergo an abortion, police said on Tuesday.
Union Minister Raksha Khadse on Sunday lodged a police complaint regarding the harassment of her daughter and some of her friends by a group of boys at an event in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district.
The first phase of polling for municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Maharashtra was disrupted by violence and allegations of bogus voting. Clashes occurred between supporters of ruling allies BJP, NCP, and Shiv Sena. The Bombay High Court directed the SEC to postpone the counting of votes.
'It would have polarised the Marathi-non Marathi divide further. 'Fadnavis had a very clear strategy: Let all Marathi people campaign for us (the BJP), and whatever results we get will be delivered by Marathi people only.'
In Nashik, around 200km from Mumbai, two groups clashed during a bandh called by the Sakal Hindu Samaj in protest against atrocities on minority community members in the neighbouring country, leading to tension in the Bhadrakali area, where police lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.
'When a grassroots worker has laboured day and night for the organisation, does the party not have a responsibility to recognise and uplift such workers?'
Votes will be counted on January 16 and the outcome will be keenly watched as the BJP-led Mahayuti will seek to stamp its supremacy in urban landscape, especially in Mumbai, while the Opposition parties will try to redeem themselves after last year's rout in assembly polls.
Police suspect an old enmity led to the murder of Suleiman Khan, who was preparing for the police recruitment exam.
Please e-mail your pictures to getahead@rediff.co.in (My Lord Ganesha Pix) with your name, location and details about your Lord Ganesha and we will publish the best photographs on Rediff.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde came to the rescue of a woman patient in need of a kidney transplant by taking her on board his chartered plane from Jalgaon to Mumbai after she missed her flight from the North Maharashtra city to the state capital.
Several drownings and missing persons reported across Maharashtra during the immersion of Ganesh idols following the Ganesh festival.
The Bombay high court on Tuesday granted an interim stay for two weeks on the Jalgaon district collector's order restraining people from praying at a mosque on a complaint by an outfit which claimed the structure has the "appearance of a temple".
Devesh Pankaj Bhaiya from Jalgaon and Sandeep Kuchi from Hyderabad won gold medals while Debadatta Priyadarshi from Bhubaneshwar and Ujjwal Kesari from New Delhi secured silver at the International Chemistry Olympiad 2025 in Dubai.
Neha Waghulade, a casual announcer with the All India Radio (AIR) in Jalgaon, Maharashtra, survived a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, where 26 people were killed. Waghulade was with a group of tourists at the Baisaran meadows when the attack took place on Tuesday afternoon. She described the chaos and panic as tourists were gunned down and the quick response of the Indian Army in evacuating survivors to safety.
Rediff readers tell us how they are celebrating Ganeshotsav this year.
No one was injured in the incident that left a windowpane of the B6 coach damaged.
No one was injured in the incident that left a windowpane of the B6 coach damaged.
Twelve persons, arrested in 2006 for their involvement in the July 11, 2006 serial train blasts case, were acquitted by the Bombay high court on Monday.
Two men were arrested and a minor boy was detained on Monday in connection with the harassment of Union Minister Raksha Khadse's daughter and her friends. The incident took place at a religious event in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district on February 28. The accused were charged with stalking, sexual offenses, and taking photos and videos of the girls without permission. The incident has sparked outrage and calls for swift action against the perpetrators.
At least 12 passengers were killed when they jumped from the Lucknow-Mumbai Pushpak Express in panic after sparks flew from the wheels when brakes were applied near Pachora in Jalgaon district. The passengers who jumped on the tracks were run over by a fast train. The incident occurred after the train passed the Jalgaon station and was nearing Pachora in the afternoon. Passengers saw sparks flying from the wheels of the train when brakes were applied, prompting some to pull the emergency chain and jump down. Some passengers were run over by the Karnataka Express, which was passing at the time. The preliminary information suggests sparks and smoke inside one of the general coaches of Pushpak Express due to either `hot axle' or `brake-binding' (jamming).
In a jolt to the Bharatiya Janata Party, its candidate on Thursday lost the mayoral election in the Jalgaon Municipal Corporation as 27 party corporators cross-voted.
Thirteen passengers of the Mumbai-bound Pushpak Express were run over by the Karnataka Express in Jalgaon district, Maharashtra, after they alighted from the train following a false fire alarm. The passengers had ample time to move to safety after pulling the alarm chain and stopping the train, but they remained on the tracks, leading to the tragic incident.
The comedian has failed to appear before the Mumbai police for questioning despite three summons issued to him.
Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra failed to appear before Khar police in Mumbai on Monday in connection with a case registered against him for his "traitor" jibe at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. A police team visited his Mahim "home" to check his availability, but he wasn't there. Kamra later took a jibe at the police, saying the visit was a waste of time and public resources as he had not been living there for the past 10 years. This was the second time Kamra was summoned by the police. Kamra has been granted interim anticipatory bail by the Madras High Court on the condition that he executes a bond in Tamil Nadu, where he currently resides. The case stems from a video lampooning Shinde over the split in the Shiv Sena, which led to Shiv Sainiks ransacking the studio where the video was shot and the hotel where it is located.
Shiv Sena functionary Rahool Kanal has claimed that BookMyShow has removed stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra from its platform following protests from the party. Kanal, the social media in-charge of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, thanked BookMyShow CEO Ashish Hemrajani for "keeping its portal clean and keeping such artist out of the list of pure entertainment." BookMyShow has not commented on the matter. Kanal was booked along with Shiv Sainiks for allegedly vandalising the studio where Kamra had performed and alluded to Shinde while making a traitor jibe, which snowballed into a major row.
According to Kamra, an artist is left with only two choices under such circumstances. "Sell their soul and become a dollar puppet or wither in silence. This isn't just a playbook, it's a political weapon. A silencing machine," he wrote.
Temples across Maharashtra are increasingly adopting dress codes for visitors, urging devotees to wear modest and traditional attire. While temple trusts argue that these codes maintain sanctity, visitors have mixed reactions. The trend, which started with the Shree Siddhivinayak Ganpati Temple in Mumbai, has spread to other temples, including those in Pune, Ratnagiri, and Ahilyanagar. The move has been welcomed by some, who believe it promotes respect and decorum within religious spaces. However, others argue that it is unnecessary and restrictive. Right-wing organizations are advocating for similar dress codes across all temples in Maharashtra, including prominent state-run temples like the Shirdi Sai Baba Temple.
In Rajasthan, Pilani recorded 44.9 degrees Celsius, Phalodi and Churu touched 43.8 degrees Celsius and 43.5 degrees Celsius respectively, while Bikaner and Jaipur registered 43.4 degrees Celsius and 43 degrees Celsius.
Three separate cases have been filed against Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra at Khar police station over his alleged controversial remarks about Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
An Indian Air Force plane will bring the bodies of the Maharashtra pilgrims killed in a bus accident in Nepal to Nashik on Saturday, officials have said.
The Pinjari family faced a devastating turn of events as siblings Jishan and Jia were swept away with two others by a strong wave in the Volkhov river in Russia.
The CBI lodged the case after a two-year preliminary enquiry, which originated from a pen drive handed over to the then Maharashtra Assembly speaker by Devendra Fadnavis, who was in the opposition in 2020, they said.
'We want to hide it (by saying) we are too busy in our lives, we have other things to attend to, we have families.' 'But they all had families, including Jyotiba or Mahatma Gandhi, or anybody who challenged the system.'
Pankaja Munde of the BJP -- Dhananjay Munde's cousin -- has been made the guardian minister of Jalna district.
The deputy chief minister called for the "strictest of strict" action against perpetrators of such crimes.
Some cases of bird flu have been detected in four villages of Jalgaon district in Maharashtra, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told the Lok Sabha Tuesday.
