Pawar has summoned a meeting of party leaders in Mumbai on Saturday to finalise its plans for the assembly elections in Karnataka scheduled for May 10.
The delay in finalising a seat allocation agreement among the Maha Vikas Aghadi allies for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections has ignited concerns among smaller constituents as the nomination process commenced on Tuesday.
Mahim is a mix of predominantly upper-class Maharashtrians, a sizeable cosmopolitan population and minority voters.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has called for tough decisions and unity within the party after the Congress suffered electoral defeats in Maharashtra and Haryana. In a meeting with top party leaders, Kharge highlighted the need to strengthen the organization from the grassroots, fix accountability, and address internal bickering. He also urged leaders to remain united and avoid public criticism of each other. The Congress chief expressed concern over the party's performance in state elections despite a strong showing in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. He acknowledged the need to learn from the setbacks and improve the party's strategy and communication to counter its rivals' propaganda.
Chief ministers of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha on Wednesday evening condoled the demise of Tata Group's chairman emeritus and veteran industrialist Ratan Tata, and said his legacy will live on forever.
At the state level, Pawar appealed to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the quota dispute.
The Bombay high court on Friday restrained political parties and individuals from proceeding with the Maharashtra bandh scheduled for August 24 or on any future date.
Pawar also said it is the moral responsibility of the major Opposition parties in Maharashtra to protect in the state assembly polls the interests of smaller allies, which were part of the coalition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Amid protests against a proposed oil refinery in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district, state industries minister Uday Samant on Tuesday said the current site for the mega project was suggested by then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, while the Opposition urged the government to stop soil survey work and be sensitive in handling the situation arising out of the agitation.
Of the ruling alliance Mahayuti, NCP ministers Dilip Walse Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal filed the papers for Ambegaon and Yeola seats, respectively, while their cabinet colleague from the BJP
Sindhudurg police in Maharashtra has formed seven teams to track down sculptor Jaydeep Apte who executed the contract to make the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj that collapsed on Rajkot fort last month, an official said on Wednesday.
The Congress has lodged complaints with the Election Commission against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing them of making 'false, divisive, malicious and slanderous' statements during their recent election campaign.
Police have launched a probe into the killing of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique from different angles, including a possible contract killing, business rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project, officials said on Sunday.
Gandhi slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party over the collapse of the statue of the warrior king at Rajkot fort in Sindhudurg district, and said the party's ideology is not right.
State BJP minister Chandrakant Patil last week said Harshvardhan Patil will regret his decision to join the Pawar-led party.
In the wake of collapse of the Shivaji Maharaj statue in Sindhudurg, the Maharashtra government has issued a tender for the construction of a new 60-foot-tall statue there, nearly twice the size of the previous one, officials said on Wednesday.
On his part, BJP Lok Sabha MP Narayan Rane, himself no stranger to controversies, got into damage control mode and sought to calm frayed nerves, saying he has chided his son over the remarks.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party, has said that helming the NCP away from the shadows of his uncle and founder Sharad Pawar after the split is a huge responsibility.
Bhujbal stridently opposed Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange's demand for Maratha quota from the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) share.
For now, Modi's government appears singularly focussed on demonstrating that it is not in any way inhibited by the BJP's loss of a majority, and will continue along its patented path of bulldozing all opposition and doing just as it likes, asserts Prem Panicker.
Speaking at a joint rally of Mahayuti partners in Mumbai, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis supported Shinde's claims, stating that the NDA leaders did not pay enough attention to the lies spread by the Opposition during the campaign.
He did not divulge any further information on what is going to be an intricate issue and hard bargaining.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday urged the non-Bharatiya Janata Party entities to unite and defeat in the Rajya Sabha the bill related to the Centre's ordinance on control of services in the national capital.
If there is unity in the Opposition, it is only about regional parties other than the DMK not wanting Rahul Gandhi or any other Congress leader for prime minister, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said his party was fighting the 'Bharatiya Janata Party, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Indian state itself', triggering a row with the BJP alleging that everything the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha does or says is in the direction of breaking India and dividing the society.
The Congress party suffered a crushing defeat in the Delhi elections, failing to secure a single seat in the 70-member assembly for the third consecutive time. Key candidates, including Sheila Dikshit's son, Sandeep Dikshit, lost their deposits. The only consolation for the party was a slight improvement in its vote share, which they attribute to a vigorous campaign and a renewed focus on contesting elections independently. However, the defeat raises questions about the party's ability to compete in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, particularly in light of its performance in other recent state elections.
The Indian government has advised states to intensify surveillance for respiratory illnesses, including influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illnesses (SARI), following the detection of five human metapneumovirus (HMPV) cases in the country. The decision comes amidst reports of a surge in HMPV cases in China. The Union Health Secretary, Punya Salila Srivastava, chaired a virtual meeting with states and union territories to discuss the situation and public health measures. While there is no cause for public concern, the government is emphasizing the importance of preventive measures such as handwashing, covering coughs and sneezes, and avoiding close contact with those showing symptoms.
Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar chief Sharad Pawar turned the heat on his estranged nephew and deputy CM Ajit Pawar on Tuesday, virtually accusing him of breaking the family for his political ambitions.
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.
'We accept EVMs cannot be hacked because it is not connected, but can they be manipulated?' 'Are you allowing us to check if EVMs can be manipulated?'
Election fever has reached its peak in Baramati in the last phase of the campaign for the Maharashtra assembly polls with the rival Nationalist Congress Party factions led by Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar leaving no stone unturned.
The TMC also announced it would hold talks with other regional parties in their bid to take on the BJP in the crucial 2024 elections but at the same time denied that it was planning a third front, separate from the Congress-led front.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday returned to power in Delhi after more than 26 years to sweep away the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party with a two-thirds majority on the back of a hyper localised campaign and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'AAP-da'(disaster) blitzkrieg.
The Maharashtra legislative assembly on Friday passed a bill empowering local tree authorities to allow the felling of all types of trees without referring matters to the State Tree Authority.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has criticized the Congress party's objections to Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), echoing the BJP's stance that questioning the machines' integrity is only acceptable when losing elections. Abdullah argues that parties should not contest elections if they don't trust the voting process. His comments highlight the growing friction between the National Conference and the Congress, their recent alliance partners in Jammu and Kashmir.
Virtually conceding the defeat, Fadnavis stated they will introspect and recover the loss in the upcoming assembly elections.
Hitting out at Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar for indulging in a blame game over the MVA's defeat in the state assembly, Raut said those who don't believe in consensus and compromise have no right to be in an alliance.
In signs of friction in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) over the chief minister's post, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut on Friday said ally Congress should understand his party's contribution in increasing the grand old party's tally in the Lok Sabha polls.
"I remember one incident -- I would not name anyone -- that person said 'if you are going to become prime minister, we will support you'," Gadkari said.
Besides disclosing in their affidavits, candidates have to prominently declare criminal cases they are facing, if any, thrice in newspapers in print as well on television, he said, adding that political parties too have to publish within three days of nomination why a candidate with criminal background was selected. "You (political parties) have to tell the public whether you did not get any (other) candidate and why was it necessary to select them (those with criminal background)," he said.
