Bawankule's remark gave ammunition to the opposition parties, with the Nationalist Congress Party saying that it showed the Bharatiya Janata Party had no value for current CM Shinde.
In his letter to Ajit Pawar, who too is a deputy CM, Fadnavis said Malik has the right to attend the assembly as an MLA and added that "we (the BJP) do not harbour any personal animosity or grudge" against him.
'If Rutuja Latke wins, it will come as a morale booster for Uddhav Thackeray. Her victory will mean that voters' sympathy is with Thackeray after the split in the party'
Anil Deshmukh said the whole of Maharashtra and India knows that Ajit Pawar and those with him hurriedly joined the government after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech in Bhopal.
Opposition parties will hold the next meeting of their 26-member INDIA coalition in Mumbai on August 25 and 26, sources said on Thursday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday won four seats in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal retained the Mokama assembly seat in the bypolls to seven assembly constituencies in six states.
In an apparent dig at Ajit, Pawar senior said if someone keeps saying he will take everything, people may not say anything but will disapprove of it.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of spreading fear, hatred and violence and said the country can not progress under these circumstances as he asked the government to be compassionate in handling farmers' problems to prevent suicides.
The government was formed 10 days after Shinde raised a banner of revolt against the Shiv Sena leadership. Forty out of 55 Sena MLAs sided with Shinde, which resulted in the collapse of the two-and-a-half-year-old Maha Vikas Aghadi dispensation comprising the Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has made it clear that it will not campaign for ally Nationalist Congress Party's candidate Nawab Malik in the assembly polls due to his alleged links with fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, but has no objection to his daughter's candidature.
Leaders of 38 parties have confirmed their participation in a meeting of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to be held in the national capital on Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda said.
'I had said that if they have a strong candidate, then I am ready to debate with that person. They can decide the topic, time, and place. I'm ready'
Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai, appointed for coordinating the state's border dispute with Karnataka, are unlikely to visit Belagavi on Tuesday as both have various meetings scheduled in Maharashtra during the day.
The NCP chief admitted that some MLAs had written to him on joining the Shinde-led government when the one led by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) collapsed following a split in the Shiv Sena. "But no decision was taken," he said.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the suggestion of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena to decide the disqualification proceedings pending against Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and MLAs belonging to his camp, saying it cannot assume the role of the speaker as doing so will have "serious ramifications".
'People will teach a lesson to those who are compromising it for the sake of power and money.'
The move has come days after the state government announced to form a special investigation team to probe into the death of Disha Salian, the former manager of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
Thane, the home turf of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, will on Friday witness Dahi Handi events being organised by his faction as well as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
'The Maratha versus OBC friction will increase. A huge chunk of the Shiv Sena's social base consists of OBCs.' Dhaval Kulkarni reports.
'Rahul Gandhi is showing an 'I-don't-care-attitude'.' 'He is showing the same attitude towards what is happening in Maharashtra or in various parts of the country.'
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was on Wednesday named as the guardian minister of his home district Pune in place of senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and cabinet minister Chandrakant Patil.
The BJP's outreach to Paswan, son of late stalwart Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan, underscores its push to bring him back into the NDA's fold after he walked out of the alliance in Bihar in the 2020 state assembly polls to campaign against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was then the BJP's biggest ally.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Sharad Pawar, said that on March 19, this court passed a reasoned order in which they (Ajit Pawar group) were asked to issue advertisements that the allocation of 'clock' symbol is sub judice before this court and they were permitted to use the same subject to final outcome of these proceedings.
While Fadnavis has admitted that the letter was sent to him in good faith, he said that he would have to discuss with the party leadership before taking a decision.
Earlier this week, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi held a series of meetings, including with Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Janata Dal-United president Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan.
The Janata Dal-United on Tuesday became the third major ally after the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal to snap ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party after 2019.
'When Fadnavis takes our help, it was sabka saath.' 'But when we support his rival, the latter is branded as appeasing Muslims.'
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kirit Somaiya, who was vocal about allegations of corruption against many Nationalist Congress Party leaders, including the recently inducted ministers Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Sunil Tatkare and Hasan Mushrif, on Tuesday refrained from commenting against them.
Milind Narvekar, the close aide of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, and NCP leader Jitendra Awhad are also contesting the election and have filed their nominations from the panel formed by Pawar and Shelar.
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 Maharashtra Congress has convened a meeting of its legislators on Tuesday in view of the developments in the state that saw a split in the Nationalist Congress Party and Ajit Pawar being inducted as deputy chief minister in the Eknath Shinde government.
Speaking to reporters in Maharashtra's Pune city, Rohit Pawar said he is firmly with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
A faction of Congress believes that that decision of the NCP benefitted the BJP which won 122 seats and staked a claim for power.
With reports surfacing of differences between Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis, Fadnavis was out seeking new allies. A disgruntled Ajit Pawar was easy to persuade.
In a veiled warning to Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange who has announced a march to Mumbai, Ajit Pawar said nobody will be allowed to take law into his hands.
Shinde's counsel said that any delay in the floor test would cause more damage to the democratic polity.
Nationalist Congress Party leader Amol Mitkari said, "It could be a family meeting between the two leaders".
Earlier it said floor test is the only way to settle all issues that have entangled the politics of Maharashtra following a rebellion by Sena leader Eknath Shinde leading to a survival crisis of the Uddhav Thackeray-led coalition government.
When Shiv Sena MP Manohar Joshi, during a supplementary on the "anti-migrant drive" in Maharashtra, sought to know from Patil if he was proud be a Maharashtrian, the home minister said: "I am proud to be an Indian and I think Maharashtra is in India." Patil hails from Maharashtra that has recently seen Shiv Sena's breakaway faction Maharashtra Navnirman Sena speaking against migrant north Indians. It has also been accused of instigating violence against them.
On Tuesday, 49 opposition MPs were suspended for the remaining part of the session for disrupting proceedings, taking the total tally of suspended MPs in Lok Sabha to 95.
