Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with party spokespersons in Mumbai, two days before his estranged cousin Raj's scheduled rally.
Memon said that the opposition should introspect why Modi keeps getting such a "positive mandate" and dismissed suggestions of manipulation of EVMs, an oft-repeated complaint of the Congress and other political parties.
Union minister Narayan Rane on Friday claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party will form a government in Maharashtra in March 2022.
'Please do not threaten us with street violence.' 'Do you have some humanity left in you?'
NCP president Sharad Pawar on Thursday said the fate of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra will be decided on the floor of the Legislative Assembly, and the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition will prove its majority in a trust vote.
Members of the Opposition bloc MVA latched on the HC ruling and staged demonstrations in the legislature complex in Nagpur against the state government.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday termed the Maharashtra governor's order asking the Uddhav Thackeray-led government to prove its majority in the assembly as "unlawful", saying that the Supreme Court is yet to decide on the disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has asked the Maharashtra Legislature Secretary to hold a floor test of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government at 11 am on Thursday.
Apart from leopards, a wide range of species of flora and fauna is found in the Aarey forest, an 1,800 acre area termed as the city's 'green lung', located in suburban Goregaon and adjacent to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
The meeting came amid rumours that Shiv Sena is considering a patch-up with the Baratiya Janata Party, its ally of 35 years.
For the first time, non-upper castes are in a majority in the board, as the party continues with its outreach to traditionally weaker and backward sections of society.
Pawar also said that the Eknath Shinde faction, which was camping in Guwahati after rebelling against the Uddhav Thackeray government, had not expected that their leader would become anything more than a deputy CM.
The Sena also took a dig at NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who last week rebelled against his party and supported the BJP to form government in the state.
The Shiv Sena will have 15 ministers in new Maharashtra cabinet, apart from chief minister's portfolio, while the Nationalist Congress Party will have Deputy Chief Minister and 13 other ministers, sources said on Wednesday.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi greeted him on the occasion, NCP's Praful Patel blamed the Congress party's internal culture for Pawar missing the opportunity to occupy the top post in the 1990s.
The truth will come out after a probe into the matter, Deshmukh told reporters at the Nagpur airport.
The ACB, in its affidavit submitted in the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay high court, has ruled out Pawar's involvement in cases of alleged irregularities in irrigation projects in the Vidarbha region.
Pawar's daughter and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule tried to placate the protesters outside the house, saying she was ready to talk to them but she must ensure first that her parents who were inside were safe.
"We are here together for people of Maharashtra. A government was formed in the state without a majority. Karnataka, Goa, and Manipur, BJP didn't have majority anywhere but formed a government," said the NCP chief.
Addressing the Sena workers in Mumbai for the second consecutive day, he also said that doors of the state and party are closed for the rebels MLAs.
'Look at the impropriety of the Anti-Corruption Bureau giving Ajit Pawar a clean chit!'
"I am totally humbled by what he has said. But Mr Pawar has categorically, very humbly told the prime minister that it is not possible," Sule told PTI.
Addressing a press conference, BJP leader and former Maharashtra minister Ashish Shelar taunted the Sena-NCP-Congress for "identification parade" of their MLAs and termed it as a cruel joke on the people of the state and democracy.
All 41 candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Telangana were elected unopposed on Friday after the biennial elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats were announced recently.
Indicating a shift in stand, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday said his party is open to consider quitting Maharashtra's ruling alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) if the rebel MLAs camping in Assam return and discuss their grievances with CM Uddhav Thackeray, while coalition allies Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress vowed support to the beleaguered governing bloc and asserted its majority can only be determined in the assembly and not outside.
The four-day-old government, however, collapsed on Tuesday, after Ajit Pawar resigned citing 'personal reasons'.
Pawar said the result of the byelection to Dhule-Nandurbar seat, where the BJP's Amrish Patel won, was expected.
The inexperienced Uddhav is forced to match up against 24x7 political pros Amit Shah and Narendra Modi who have the added advantage of wielding power at the Centre, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
If it splits now, who takes what away and leaves what behind? asks Shekhar Gupta.
Sources in the Congress and NCP said the draft CMP and allocation of portfolios between the three parties will be discussed in the meeting.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday claimed that formation of any national alliance was not the topic of discussion at the meeting of eight opposition parties hosted by him earlier this week, but also said that if any such coalition emerges, its leadership will have to be 'collective'.
The Shiv Sena has insisted that the two parties had a '50-50' power-sharing agreement before the elections.
'We will comfortably sail through this sea of fire.'
NCP leader Ajit Pawar said that the tri-party alliance has passed the first test and was confident of clearing the second test regarding the election of the Speaker.
The central agency arrested his personal secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde late Friday night after it had carried out raids against them and Deshmukh in Mumbai and Nagpur.
Rahul Gandhi is neither Congress president, office-bearer nor Congress leader in Parliament. This technical leeway provides adequate cover for Shiv Sena-Congress ties taking a nosedive, says Rasheed Kidwai.
A top BJP leader from Bihar told ANI that Fadnavis is going to play a crucial role in the Bihar assembly election and he is associated with the Bihar BJP on purpose
'I would like to express my anger at the way party affairs have been handled by some people.'
In an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana', the Sena, which also saw a drop in its 2014 tally, said the mandate has rejected the notion that elections can be swept by engineering defections and splitting opposition parties.
BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar distanced his party from Rane's view. "The situation in Maharashtra is grim, but it does not qualify for President's rule. We feel the state government is not serious enough about tackling the situation," the former state minister said.
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