Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar was on Friday re-inducted as Maharashtra deputy chief minister after a government white paper on irrigation gave him a clean chit even as the Opposition Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party boycotted his swearing-in ceremony, terming his comeback as a "farce."
The Opposition in Maharashtra legislative assembly on Tuesday took the government to task over its "apathetic" and "negligent" attitude towards the security concerns of the metropolis and said it had lost the moral right to continue in office.
Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine's bid to wrest control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Friday appeared coming to a naught with the country's richest civic body's ruling Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance set to emerge as the largest bloc.
The violence in Mumbai in reaction to riots in Assam created turmoil in Parliament for the second day on Tuesday with the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party demanding central intervention and a judicial probe into the incidents.
The first day of the newly elected Maharashtra assembly got off to a stormy start, with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena carrying out its threat and assaulting Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Asim Azmi, who too carried out his threat to take his oath in Hindi. Action was quick in following, with four MNS legislators -- Vasant Geete, Shishir Shinde, Ram Kadam and Ramesh Wanjale -- being suspended for four years by the pro-tem speaker for the violent incident
Deshmukh said there is a law making it compulsory to have signboards in Marathi along with other languages and give priority to locals. However, these laws were not implemented properly, he added.
Alleging a failure by the Maharashtra government to act on inputs from central intelligence agencies of a possible terror strike in Pune, Opposition Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party MPs walked out of a meeting convened by Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan to raise the state's issues in Parliament.
The Sena and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray labelled each other gaddar (traitor) after Shinde's rebellion split their original party last year, while Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis publicly asserted he had exacted revenge on Thackeray for his betrayal.
Bollywood star Salman Khan who came under fire today for claiming during an interview to a Pakistani channel that the 26/11 attacks were hyped because the "elite" were targetted, has apologised for his "insensitive" comments.
'The NCP fires the gun from Raut's shoulders and who does the bullet hit? Not enemies of our party but loyalists like us. This is not acceptable to us'
A separate ministry for welfare of nomadic tribes, 15 per cent quota in jobs and educational institutions for economically backward classes and stabilising prices have been promised in the manifesto of Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance for the October 13 Maharashtra assembly elections.
Barely hours after the Bandra-Worli sea link was named 'Rajiv Gandhi Setu', the move drew criticism from Opposition Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance, which favoured it being named after Swatantrayaveer Savarkar.
With the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation elections throwing up a hung verdict, all eyes are now on the next moves of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray.
Contesting the Kalyan-Dombivli civic polls for the first time, the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena emerged triumphant, getting 26 seats in the 107-member House which saw a fractured verdict
Scotching speculation of any alliance between the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party and Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Sena chief Bal Thackeray said there was no need for a "third entity" in the combine.
Will Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena make its mark in the forthcoming assembly election in the state?
Nationalist Congress Party Legislature party leader in Maharashtra assembly Chhagan Bhujbal on Thursday said his party will never align with the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party for the sake of power.The comments came in the wake of senior party leader Ajit Pawar's interview to a national daily on Thursday, when he informed that the Shiv Sena-BJP had made an offer to him to join the combine with his followers, in exchange for the chief minister's post.
The Maharashtra government will set up a special court in consultation with the chief justice of Bombay High Court, to try cases related to the Mumbai terror attack, state Home Minister Jayant Patil said on Wednesday.Patil also said that the chargesheet against perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks will be filed within seven days. Advocate Ujwal Nikam, who shot to fame during the 1993 serial blasts trial, has been appointed as special public prosecutor in the case.
The Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combined opposition on Tuesday took the Maharashtra government to task for the Mumbai terror attacks and demanded removal of state's Director General of Police A N Roy and Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor for alleged lapses.The BJP sought a probe into utilisation of funds given by the Centre to deal with possible terror attacks through sea routes following an intelligence report. The removal of Home Secretary was also made.
As the tussle for control of the Nationalist Congress Party hotted up after its vertical split, Sharad Pawar on Thursday declared he was the president of the party and hit back at nephew and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's retirement jibe, saying he will work more effectively "whether 82 or 92."
The Supreme Court on Thursday warned the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) of contempt action if it renotifies the election process to 367 local bodies, where it has already commenced, in order to provide reservation to OBCs.
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 move comes ahead of next year's Mumbai civic elections, where Congress would be seeking to dislodge the incumbent Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine.
Reservation bill passed in Maharashtra Assembly amid din over blasts
After having retained the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance has now set its eyes on other municipal bodies in the state, especially Pune, Nashik, Thane and Ulhasnagar.
'Can the Congress leadership summon up the will to effect change?'
The Shiv Sena-BJP combine has accused Sushilkumar Shinde of furnishing wrong information and misleading the legislature.
Within two or three days, a Congress team would discuss seat sharing arrangements with the NCP. The task is to be finished by the end of August.
Rane, who arrived in Nagpur on Tuesday on his first visit to Vidarbha after quitting the Shiv Sena and joining the Congress, was greeted with black flags by Shiv Sena.
The Maharashtra government on Wednesday bowed to the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine's demand to install a portrait of freedom fighter, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, in the central hall of the state legislature in Mumbai.
According to this system, a member of the opposition is assigned to follow the goings-on in a particular ministry. For each ministry or department, there would be a corresponding member in the opposition benches.
The Shiv Sena-BJP combine repeatedly asked the Congress and NCP members to make their stand clear on the issue.
Supporting the rebel Shiv Sena candidate, Dhananjay Bodare, those who tendered their resignation were miffed over the Kalyan East seat falling into the BJP's quota.
'I want to warn Ajit dada and all those who have stabbed Pawar saheb by joining hands with the BJP.' 'Don't write saheb's obituaries so soon.'
In Aurangabad, Shiv Sena bagged 29 seats, BJP 22 while the MIM, who made its debut, bagged 25 seats.
In a scathing attack on Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, senior Congress leader and Maharashtra Industries Minister Narayan Rane on Sunday said the Gujarat chief minister is a "liar" and "devoid of human values".
Hitting out at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that the minority leader should go to Pakistan and try his antics there.
The Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-led opposition alliance in Maharashtra will win 35 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats, senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde claimed here today.