Such is Sharma's clout that very few are willing to take sides in this controversy. 'It's like talking about Salman Khan.' 'No one wants to ruffle feathers.'
The strategic move will also bolster the BJP's push to decimate Uddhav Thakceray-led party by depriving it of its pet Hindutva and ethnic sub-nationalism plank.
In a special series, Rediff.com looks at India through the lives of her people. Today: Abdul Nabi, who has been cleaning people's ears for 40 years in Mumbai.
'We really need to look seriously to see if there are any local variants.'
'There was no other Lata Mangeshkar, there is none and there won't be any. I will celebrate her life, today and always.'
'I have no keys to my house; it works on biometrics and electronic identification.' 'Every time anyone enters, the camera captures it and I get a message on my phone.'
As Dilip Kumar passes away in the ages, Sukanya Verma feels a deep gratitude for the enormous legacy he's left behind.
Prime Minister Modi has certainly pulled back, and his political capital -- dependent as it is on an image that he knows best and never retreats -- may have taken a bit of a beating. But, equally, it is hard to say that the protesters have 'won', argues Mihir S Sharma.
'For the Shiv Sena, Hindutva is like a shawl which can be put on and discarded at will.'
'Then why should people like us face this inconvenience?'
Chhagan Bhujbal, son of a vegetable vendor, rose through the political ranks by hard work, determination and political opportunism. Now past ghosts have come to haunt him.
'I like the fact that people think I am a funny guy and can make them laugh.'
Dr Rajendra Bharud has done what no other district collector in India could do as the pandemic ravaged the nation. He not only made Nandurbar district oxygen surplus, but ensured that the supply of life-saving oxygen remained uninterrupted for patients -- something even Delhi and Mumbai hospitals have not achieved yet.
'If the future of the nation is lying on the streets, the future of India looks bleak.'
BJP's candidate from northwest Delhi constituency Hans Raj Hans, Union minister and Chandni Chowk candidate Harsh Vardhan and other party leaders were also present.
The Pakistani Taliban on Thursday threatened to target Indians 'anywhere' in retaliation for the execution of Ajmal Kasab and demanded that India should return the body of the LeT militant involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks to his family.
According to the IMD forecast, monsoon is likely to be normal this year.
It has also been decided to suspend the interstate bus services till March 31, the officials said. The decisions have been taken at a high-level meeting attended by chief secretaries of all states and the cabinet secretary and the principal secretary to the prime minister.
'Indrani said she had some things to discuss with Peter, which he digested with minor surprise.' 'He looked mildly dismayed. And refused to sit down next to her, in spite of her welcome.' In spite of months of wariness from Peter's side, the ice was broken.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the Ayanagar weather station recorded 99.2 mm rainfall, the maximum in the city, during the 24-hour period ending at 8.30 am on Thursday.
'I didn't know Shashi Kapoor when I first photographed him.' Mark Bennington has since come a long way, and has taken some amazing pictures of Bollywood's brightest stars.
Nadia Comneci made a superstar entry at the Times of India Sporting Awards.
The prosecution's pursuit of this tiny detail was because they believed the charge from Google, on Indrani's account, was to restore Sheena's Gmail account, via the Google account recovery toolkit, since Indrani did not have the password.
'The true fruits of the attack on black money, what Raghuram Rajan did for the banking system, and what technology is doing for us will come in FY19, which, not surprisingly, is the year running up to the next Lok Sabha elections.'
According to senior officials of the National Highways Authority of India, this project is part of a larger 245-km highway development project connecting Hyderabad and Solapur.
Since Thursday, several carriers, mainly international, have cancelled their flights in and out of Mumbai due to sparse load factor or the inability of the crew to reach the airport. Amongst the domestic carriers, Kingfisher Airlines combined around eight flights. Air India also clubbed some of its flights in the domestic routes. Jet Airways, JetLite, IndiGo and SpiceJet did not cancel any flight.
Pritish Nandy's interview of Kishore Kumar for The Illustrated Weekly Of India was a stunner.
Mumbai-origin Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon, who migrated to Britain with little funds and went on to found several Indian food companies that made him known as Britain's first 'Curry King', died on Tuesday at the age of 79 after he surrendered in his battle against liver cancer.
'It is the most prone month for the development of cyclones in the pre-monsoon period.'
'People wondered aloud why she had given up on the aging, getting-day-by-day-more-infirm avatar. And was freshly blooming.'
The IMD chief also allayed fears of occurrence of an El-Nino.
'We are all from middle class backgrounds...' 'We are not like those super privileged kids to whom the parents say "Jao beta. Studio khareed lo".'
If people make films like Baahubali, which has Indian content, it will always be a hit. But nobody makes it nowadays.
The weather office in Mumbai has sounded a cyclone alert for the coastal regions of south Gujarat and north Maharashtra, where it is expected to make a landfall in the early hours of Thursday.
