'While it seems that the sole option left for the Shiv Sena chief is to sit in the Opposition and wait and watch, there are two other choices before him to show his party rank and file if he is a quitter or a fighter.'
The Supreme Court will hear a batch of pleas on the Maharashtra political crisis filed by the Shiv Sena factions led by Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde on November 29, when it is likely to issue some directions.
The unexpected split in the Nationalist Congress Party set off a mini earthquake in not only Maharashtra politics but also sent aftershocks at a national level.
The Sharad Pawar camp described the ruling as a "murder of democracy" which would be challenged in the Supreme Court.
The court said the disqualification petitions have to be adjudicated expeditiously.
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.
Baring his heart on the feud which split the Shiv Sena, its founder Bal Thackeray has said that he can "fight with outsiders, but not with those within the family".
The NCP supremo, who was at the receiving end of his nephew's move during the day, had, 45 years ago, split the Congress and walked out with 40 MLAs, leading to the collapse of the Vasantdada Patil government.
Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party president Ajit Pawar on Saturday won from his traditional Baramati assembly constituency by defeating his nephew and NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar candidate Yugendra Pawar by more than one lakh votes.
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.
'With vendetta politics as its main plank, the BJP will be looking out for every opportunity to destabilise this Mahagatbandhan government.'
Two days before rebelling against uncle Sharad Pawar and joining the Maharashtra government last Sunday, Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar approached the Election Commission on June 30 staking claim to the party name as well as symbol and subsequently also declared himself as president with the support of 40 lawmakers, sources said.
Sharad Pawar-Ajit Pawar, Bal Thackeray-Raj Thackeray, Gopinath Munde-Dhananjay Munde. Troubled uncle-nephew relationships have rocked the boat of more than one party trying to steer its way through Maharashtra's troubled political waters with the crisis in the Nationalist Congress Party only the latest in the series.
If only the Congress could rebuild on its strengths and develop a modern enough ideology, we could again be moving towards a clearer two-party political landscape, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
In a jolt to the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party won four of the six seats in the state legislative council, including Nagpur, and wrested the Akola-Buldhana-Washim seat from the Shiv Sena.
As per an NCP statement, Patel assured Odio he would support him in his efforts to strengthen the 24-year-old party.
'The BJP leaders will go crazy if they are thrown out of power. They will lose their mental balance'
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.
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.
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.
The remarks by Sibal, a noted advocate, came after Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar and eight others were inducted into the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government.
'Over the years he has been getting a feeling of being sidelined by his uncle.'
Pawar had said he would quit politics if the reports about his Delhi visit before the NCP forged an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2023 were proven, and if not, those raising such allegations should quit politics.
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.
Raut's statement comes a day after Pawar, during an interview with a media house in Pune, responded to a query on his chief ministerial ambitions by saying "yes, I would 100 per cent like to be (CM)".
While addressing a joint press conference with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai, NCP chief Sharad Pawar paraded 3 MLAs to display that all are with him.
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.
'After Manoj Jarange Patil began his long march towards Mumbai on January 20, he kept increasing his demands and the government meekly surrendered to him.'
'They want to win 45 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra in the 2024 general elections and joining hands with Ajit Pawar is in that direction.'
Ajit Pawar also said he was "not interested" in contesting elections anymore.
Neglect of older dedicated workers who worked without the urge for recognition by the new age social media-aided selfie powered activists was also evident in the poll results, it said.
Ajit Pawar's NCP, a constituent of Mahayuti, was winning or leading in 41 of the 59 seats it contested as per the latest figures released by the Election Commission.
'For the last two elections, the Congress manifesto has been thrown into the dustbin.' 'This manifesto will also be thrown into the dustbin.'
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.
'Badle ki bhavna (revengeful politics) was never seen in Maharashtra and Indian politics, but now we are witnessing all that today.'
'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'
Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar MLA Rohit Pawar's mother Sunanda has emphasised the need for party factions led by veteran politician Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to come together as voices for unity emerged from both rival camps.
Sixty-eight Rajya Sabha members, including nine Union ministers, are completing their tenure this year, triggering a race of sorts among leaders across political parties to eye a six-year term in the Upper House of Parliament.
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.
Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal told a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud that Koshyari had sworn in Shinde without even asking him which party he and the other legislators supporting him belonged to.
