Patel insisted that the meeting with Shah and other BJP leaders was a "courtesy call" as he and Ajit Pawar had not met them formally since joining the ruling alliance in Maharashtra.
Issuing a video message after his resignation, Vaghela expressed his displeasure about lone NCP MLA Kandhal Jadeja defying the party whip and indulging in cross-voting during the June 19 Rajya Sabha polls for four seats.
In nearly 100 seats, the BJP stands almost no chance of winning. In 200 seats, it is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress where the BJP has an upper hand. In 243 seats, the BJP is pitted against regional parties and it is not going to be easy. That is why 400 seats may end up as a pipe dream, states Ramesh Menon, author of Modi Demystified: The Making of a Prime Minister.
With the latest additions, Yadav now follows 12 Twitter handles, which include the Dalai Lama, the President of India, the Prime Minister's Office and the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's Office.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar, who took oath as Deputy Chief Minister in the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government on Sunday, has the support of more than 40 MLAs and over six MLCs of his party, sources claimed citing a letter submitted to Raj Bhavan.
Marking a vertical split in the Nationalist Congress Party, its senior leader Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government as deputy chief minister on Sunday.
The Shinde-led Shiv Sena has maintained he will continue to be CM despite the NCP joining the state government, which also includes the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
'Praful Patel, Dilip Walse-Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal are not the ones who will go with Ajit Pawar'
The details of the alleged assault on Maliwal, which took place at Kejriwal's official residence on Monday, emerged on Friday as the Rajya Sabha MP appeared before a magistrate to record her statement in the case.
The factional fight of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has reached the doorstep of the Election Commission, with the group led by Ajit Pawar filing over 40 affidavits of MLAs and MPs in his support.
In the wake of nine Nationalist Congress Party leaders, including Ajit Pawar, joining the Eknath Shinde government, party chief Sharad Pawar has convened a meeting on July 5 in Mumbai to discuss the developments and the future course of action, its state unit chief Jayant Patil said on Sunday.
Thackeray also condemned the collapse of a girder of an overbridge which was being constructed on a section of the Mumbai-Goa highway in Chiplun city on Monday.
Chouhan's fate will be determined by the BJP central command's assessment of the implications of such a move ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
'There is no grain of truth in the speculation that the Congress is thinking of contesting the Lok Sabha elections without taking Sharad Pawar along'
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
The Janata Dal-United leader maintained that having taken the initiative to bring parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party, he desired nothing for himself but admitted having stressed at the meeting the need to expedite seat-sharing arrangements.
While political experts claim that the Modi Magic is missing in the 2024 general election, the common people in the street -- at least those in the crowd on Thursday -- vow that they will vote for Modi and the candidate who contests the election doesn't matter much.
The court said the disqualification petitions have to be adjudicated expeditiously.
'Shankaracharyas look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP through a political prism. This temple is not built on politics but on religion. Ram is our God'
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
As per an NCP statement, Patel assured Odio he would support him in his efforts to strengthen the 24-year-old party.
'Nobody is speaking up for Muslims today.' 'Secular parties too have calmed down because they feel this will hurt the Hindu vote (bank).' 'In this scenario, where does a Muslim go?'
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday said there was a need to fight the forces creating communal divide in Maharashtra and the country.
Infighting between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot has been out in the open throughout the Congress term.
The ruling Eknath Shinde camp in Maharashtra told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the rival side led by Uddhav Thackeray wanted the speaker of the state assembly to "usurp" the powers of the Election Commission when the ultimate test of majority in a democracy -- the floor test -- was ordered by the governor during the 2022 political crisis.
Shinde said his new deputy Ajit Pawar has chosen the path of development and expressed his faith in the leadership of Modi.
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Friday claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had 'begged for forgiveness for past betrayals' before his parents, party supremo Lalu Prasad and ex-CM Rabri Devi, before they allied with the Janata Dal-United president in 2022.
There is an impression within the Tamil Nadu BJP -- although no one is airing it -- that over-exposure for Narendra Modi over the past months may work against party candidates, as they have triggered a near-continuous social media debate on his achievements and failures, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Basistha Narain Singh has been appointed interim convenor of a committee to oversee the organisational elections in Bihar due in another two months.
'The Shiv Sena as a party was going nowhere.' 'Now Uddhav Thackeray has shown his partymen that he can take the BJP head on.'
A day after joining the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday went to meet Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to discuss allocation of portfolios in the cabinet, sources said.
He was administered the oath of office by Governor Rajendra Arlekar at the Raj Bhavan in Patna.
Both the Shiv Senas - one of Maharashtra Chief minister Eknath Shinde and the other of Uddhav Thackeray - marked their foundation day on Monday, with attack on each other.
While Prakash has hinted at leaving the JD-S in the past, party chief Deve Gowda seemed unaffected, sarcastically saying that anyone who wanted to join Prakash was welcome to do so.
'They were as late as June 2023 and they did not follow it up with concrete measures immediately in terms of a secretariat or common minimum programme, working group or seat sharing etc.' 'They continued to have periodic meetings after a gap of weeks where they had tasty dinner and coffee, but beside that they did nothing else.'
