'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Kharge accused PM Modi of inciting people over the issues "that the Congress will never do".
Modi should implement the Uniform Civil Code in this country, Thackeray said.
As the political turmoil in Maharashtra continues to unfold, rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shide spoke to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray about the recent political situation in the state, confirmed MNS leader on Monday.
'Raj Thackeray is not coming to Ayodhya to seek Ram's blessings.' 'He is coming to seek political gain in the name of Ram.'
Thackeray had addressed the audience as his deshbhakt and deshpremi brothers and sisters" instead of the traditional invocation of "Hindu brothers and sisters" at the Shivaji Park gathering in Mumbai.
'Raj Thackeray's political outfit will soon fold up in Maharashtra.'
'We accept EVMs cannot be hacked because it is not connected, but can they be manipulated?' 'Are you allowing us to check if EVMs can be manipulated?'
He did not divulge any further information on what is going to be an intricate issue and hard bargaining.
Even as parleys continue in both states, the grand old party is expected to contest less than 110 seats in the November 20 polls for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly.
The rival Shiv Sena factions led by Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde faced off on Wednesday evening at the party's office at the civic headquarters in south Mumbai. Tension had prevailed for an hour on the premises till police intervened.
MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar met Maharashtra Home Minister over a letter threatening Thackeray.
As the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections gathers momentum, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, the leaders of two prominent regional parties in Maharashtra, are fighting a battle for political survival.
'We have been threatened. We have felt violated.' 'Everything is in danger if you don't give safe spaces to women.'
In the coming assembly election, negotiations over seat-sharing will be as important as actual outreach to voters.
In 2008, Thackeray was booked under Sections 109 and 117 (abetment of offence) of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly making inflammatory speeches.
His chamber had a large photograph of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray and a picture of Shinde's mentor Anand Dighe next to it.
'If the Maha Vikas Aghadi thinks that they have won 30 (Lok Sabha) seats and that would translate to winning 180 assembly seats they would be living in a fool's paradise.'
Speaking a day after refusing to take up the responsibility given to him by the ruling outfit ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls, he also said that he has been working as an ordinary worker of the party and was not greedy for any post.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray has again asked Union minister Nitin Gadkari to leave the Bharatiya Janata Party if he is being 'insulted', saying the opposition in Maharashtra would ensure his victory in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray will not switch to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar president Jayant Patil asserted on Thursday, seeking to scotch speculation about a possible crossover by his key ally.
'The people preferred Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar...'
The Centre on Wednesday accorded Z plus -- the highest category of armed VIP security cover -- to Pawar, official sources had said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies on Tuesday welcomed the Union Budget and said it focussed on youth, farmers, women, and has 'substantial allocations' for Maharashtra, but the opposition slammed the annual financial statement, claiming it neglected the western state and only seeks to please the saffron outfit's partners in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
The opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition in Maharashtra on Tuesday announced its seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray securing a substantial portion with 21 seats, while the Congress will contest 17 seats, and the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar 10 seats.
'Maharaj was never a plunderer. He never bothered a common man.'
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray has appealed to his party workers to not perform 'maha aarti' on May 3, the day of Eid ul Fitr and Akshaya Tritiya.
The assembly polls in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase while Jharkhand polls will be held in two phases, the Election Commission of India announced on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court on Friday said it will list on March 7 the plea of the Uddhav Thackeray faction challenging Maharashtra assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's order declaring the Shiv Sena bloc led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the "real political party" after the outfit's split in June 2022.
The Badlapur school, where two young girls were allegedly sexually abused, preferred to cover up the crime instead of helping their parents file a police complaint, said Susieben Shah, chairperson of Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, on Wednesday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party suffered a setback in Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra on Tuesday, with its tally dwindling by less than half compared to 2019, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi of Congress, Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar was on a roll, pocketing 30 of the 48 seats.
This will be the first major electoral test after the political realignment that emerged in 2019.
The statue is located at the busy roundabout between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya and National Gallery of Modern Art in south Mumbai.
The apex child rights body NCPCR on Monday sought an FIR against Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray for allegedly using children in his party's campaign to save Mumbai's Aarey forest.
Shewale insisted that a large number of Sena leaders were in favour of an alliance with the BJP and keen to contest the next Lok Sabha polls under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Even as the two parties appeared confident that they have reached out to every voter and publicised their new symbols, experts suggested varying impact of the split and the symbols on the vote bank.
This special Maharashtrian sweet is made by the CKP community just before Ganesh Chaturthi.
Police have launched a probe into the killing of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique from different angles, including a possible contract killing, business rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project, officials said on Sunday.
The VHP on Sunday dismissed as 'fake and baseless' the reports that its activists and those of the Bajrang Dal will participate in an event to be organised by the MNS to play 'Hanuman Chalisa' on loudspeakers outside the mosques in Maharashtra on May 3.
Several opposition leaders and some lawyers of the Supreme Court reacted sharply to Modi attending the puja at the CJI's residence.
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