Ajit Pawar and four others were killed when the chartered plane carrying them crashed in Baramati in Pune district on Wednesday.
In a post on X, Thackeray also claimed that those who attended Bhagwat's programme in Mumbai on February 7-8 to mark the RSS centenary did not come out of love for him but due to the fear of Narendra Modi's government.
Popularly known as 'Ajit Dada', he was known to say things as they were, without couching it in any soft padding.
In a surprising turn, rival Shiv Sena factions led by Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray have joined forces with NCP factions to contest local elections in Maharashtra's Barshi taluka, setting aside political differences.
'They are not abandoning their ideology. They now believe it is better to pursue their goals through the Constitution rather than from the barrel of a gun -- even if the ideology itself remains intact.'
The last rites of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who died in a plane crash, will be held with full state honors in Baramati. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are expected to attend the funeral.
The BJP and Shiv Sena are leading in the early trends of the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls in Maharashtra. Counting began on Monday morning for elections to 12 Zilla Parishads and 125 Panchayat Samitis.
'The writing is on the wall for both Shinde and Ajit Pawar.'
The Maharashtra municipal elections showed a troubling shift, where votes were traded for cash, convictions no longer mattered, and ideology became an afterthought, observes Ramesh Menon.
Kakade said they will hold talks with the Congress and the Shiv Sena-UBT as well.
Sunetra Pawar, who is not a member of either house of the Maharashtra legislature, will be elected as leader of the legislature wing of the Nationalist Congress Party at a meeting in Mumbai on Saturday, after which she is likely to take oath as deputy CM.
'If the BJP had contested all 227 seats, I believe they would have managed to secure a majority on their own.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the untimely death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash, praising his grassroots connection and dedication to serving the people.
NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar has raised doubts about the circumstances surrounding the death of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in an air crash and plans to provide a detailed presentation on the matter.
BJP and Congress workers clashed in Pune following controversial remarks equating Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj with Tipu Sultan, leading to injuries and police intervention.
The death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has created a leadership crisis within the NCP, raising questions about the party's future and potential reunification with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP).
The BJP protesters, carrying placards and raising slogans, slammed the Congress and its leader, Rahul Gandhi, calling them "traitors" for allegedly tarnishing the nation's image.
A close associate of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar claims that Pawar was actively pursuing a merger of the two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions before his death. The associate, Kiran Gujar, stated that Pawar had indicated the merger was imminent just days before a fatal plane crash.
'In any aviation emergency, the first rule is aviate -- fly the aircraft.' 'The fact that the commander's voice is not on the recording simply means he was focused entirely on flying. It does not imply anything more than that.'
The following are the highlights of the Supreme Court verdict in which a five-judge Constitution bench unanimously held on Thursday that it cannot restore the then Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray as the former chief minister resigned without facing a floor test in June last year.
As the Bharatiya Janata Party is falling short of a majority in the municipal corporations of Sangli and Akola in Maharashtra and needs the support of other parties or elected members, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar has emerged as one of the decisive factors with three seats in its kitty in each civic body.
The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has made significant progress in challenging the Thackeray family's control over Mumbai's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after nearly 25 years. The results mark a potential shift in Mumbai's civic politics, with the BJP emerging as a central force.
After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stated that the truth would not emerge through existing mechanisms and called for a probe, several opposition leaders including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge backed her demand.
The man, identified as Suraj, a native of Maharashtra and residing in Salem, collapsed after complaining of chest pain. According to the police, he had gone to see Vijay.
'This is purely transactional politics -- there exists no family reunion as such.'
Eknath Shinde knows he can't possibly make all the MLAs loyal to him ministers. How will they be satisfied? And to satisfy them, the BJP will have to play ball.
The widow of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, who was murdered last year, has petitioned the Bombay High Court for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the case, alleging police have failed to apprehend the real culprits.
Fadnavis is the local remote control, but the ultimate remote control is in the hands of the BJP leadership in Delhi, observe Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
What began as a car accident in Pune has now spiralled into a full-blown political controversy, drawing in senior state leaders and sparking a debate over political interference, selective targeting, and law enforcement priorities in Maharashtra.
The previous Congress-NCP government had issued an ordinance to grant a 16 per cent quota to Marathas and five per cent to Muslims.
A dispute has erupted between MVA allies Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress after the Sena (UBT) supported the BJP in the Chandrapur mayoral elections, leading to a BJP victory despite Congress being the single largest party.
Naming an airport after Guru Ravidas is not just about a name, it shows that Dalit communities want respect, equal treatment, and freedom from unfair caste rules in religion and society.
NCP Maharashtra president Sunil Tatkare reaffirms the party's commitment to the BJP-led NDA, dismissing merger speculations and emphasizing the ideology of the late Ajit Pawar.
"It is high time India traded dynasty for meritocracy. This would require fundamental reforms, from imposing legally mandated term limits to requiring meaningful internal party elections, together with a concerted effort to educate and empower the electorate to choose leaders based on merit," Tharoor said.
The Shiv Sena-UBT is openly questioning the Congress party's leadership within the INDIA bloc.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the next Mayor of Mumbai will be from the ruling alliance and will be 'both Hindu and Marathi,' as political campaigning heats up for the city's top civic post.
Pinky Mali was an attendant on the Learjet 46, operated by Delhi-based VSR Ventures, that crash-landed at the Baramati airport
The Congress won elections to the Latur Municipal Corporation (LMC) in central Maharashtra on Friday, bagging a clear majority with 43 seats in the 70-member body, leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party a distant second with 22 seats.
'Praful Patel, Dilip Walse-Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal are not the ones who will go with Ajit Pawar'
The last rites of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who died in a plane crash, were held with full state honors in Baramati. Prominent leaders and thousands of mourners attended the funeral.
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