BJP's Maharashtra unit chief Chandrakant Patil on Friday asserted that his party did not play any role in the ongoing political crisis in the state.
Campaigning continues for the final three phases of the Lok Sabha election.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
Speaking about the incident, Jain said only a portion of the house razed by junior civic engineers was illegal and its occupants had promised to remove the illegal part.
There's no telling how long this government will last or how cordial the relations between the alliance partners will be, but it tells us that while constancy and fealty pay, timing is everything, points out Aditi Phadnis.
A railway official said a train has been booked for the Dussehra rally from Nanded city in central Maharashtra.
Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil has refused Shinde's allegations.
On Tuesday, Mandaviya had written to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot asking them to strictly follow the COVID-19 guidelines during the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Bhujbal said he does not feel that there is a threat to the Maharashtra MVA government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated and laid foundation stones of development projects worth more than Rs 38,000 crore in different sectors in Mumbai, giving a big push to infrastructure, urban travel and healthcare ahead of civic polls in the city in which the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction will seek to showcase these ventures to take on their political rivals.
In the wake of Shiv Sena minister Eknath Shinde's rebellion, MP Sanjay Raut on Friday admitted that the party's numbers in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly have dwindled, but expressed confidence that the rebel MLAs will support the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) combine during the floor test, saying that 'figures can change any time'.
In a veiled attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena member of Parliament Sanjay Raut on Tuesday claimed rebel leader Eknath Shinde was pressured to go against the Uddhav Thackeray-led party and also alleged that at least two MLAs accompanying the minister in Surat were beaten up by the police and goons under the BJP's "Operational Kamal".
'The sixth seat was a risk for the MVA, but Uddhav Thackeray took the risk,' Pawar said. 'In politics, one has to take risks.'
Speaking to reporters in Pune, Pawar played down the buzz saying that he is not able to attend the NCP meeting as he has to remain present for some other programmes happening at the same time.
The ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra is heavily banking upon a six to 10 per cent shift in voters -- mostly women -- in its favour to return to power with anywhere between 160 and 170 assembly seats, say four MLAs belonging to Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena.
BJP sources said a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance is expected to take place soon to highlight its growing strength and to dispel the impression that the departure of some of its oldest allies such as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal and the Janata Dal-United have the left the saffron party without a major partner.
Members of the BJP and the Shinde faction staged a demonstration in the Vidhan Bhavan complex on Thursday while holding banners which read: "AU kaun hain" (who is AU).
If these MLAs return to the NCP, Ajit Pawar's support will reduce further.
Now, with the INDIA bloc putting up an impressive show in the Lok Sabha polls and managing to stop the BJP juggernaut, opposition leaders will be looking at the senior Pawar for guidance in navigating the political space against the saffron party post-elections.
Newly-inducted minister Sanjay Rathod, who also served as a minister in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led state government, had resigned last year after he was linked to a woman's death in Pune.
'We know how to deal with the BJP if push comes to shove.'
'The Maharashtrian Congressmen's decision to break away from their reluctant leaders in Delhi to side with the Shiv Sena is seemingly the first sign that the 'high command' is not as powerful as is believed,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLA and minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday moved the Supreme Court against the disqualification notice issued by the deputy speaker to him and 15 other rebel legislators.
A section of Shiv Sena lawmakers had raised certain concerns after the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar joined the one-year-old Shinde-BJP government.
The mandal will not install the Ganesh idol this year, Lalbaugcha Raja Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal's secretary Sudhir Salvi told reporters. It will organise blood and plasma donation camps and provide financial assistance to the families of policemen who died of COVID-19, he said.
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.
Rane's move comes after days of speculation that he may join the Bharatiya Janata Party
The Supreme Court kept in abeyance the disqualification proceedings before the Deputy Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly till July 11 and sought responses to pleas by rebel MLAs questioning the legality of notices seeking their disqualification.
Sarma also said he has nothing to do with the politics of Maharashtra where the survival of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government is at stake after 38 of his party's MLAs rebelled and are currently camping at a hotel in Guwahati after being flown there in several flights.
The BJP, which has allied with a few smaller parties, has sought to upend the state's conventional politics, which has so far been indifferent to Hindutva politics, by taking the ruling DMK head-on for its alleged insult of Sanatan Dharma besides involvement in corruption.
'I don't think there will be many problems after the assembly election results.'
The Sharad Pawar camp described the ruling as a "murder of democracy" which would be challenged in the Supreme Court.
Apart from the assembly of five or more persons, it prohibits processions, use of loud speakers, musical band and bursting of crackers in any procession.
"Gandhi's disqualification is illegal and the case is also bogus. I am sure that a higher court in Gujarat will do justice to Gandhi," said Raut, whose party is an ally of the Congress in Maharashtra.
The highly virulent 'Delta plus' variant of the novel coronavirus could stoke a third wave in Maharashtra, according to a presentation made at a meeting attended by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Rane accused the Congress of reneging on its promise of making him the CM after he joined the party 12 years ago.
Though electoral verdicts have historically been accepted, even though grudgingly, by all parties, there has been a sharper edge to the questions being raised by Opposition parties this time over the polling process, including the Election Commission.
The BJP had criticised the MVA government saying that it was "unethical" on its part to issue so many orders in a short span.
Hailing Banerjee as the "real Bengal tigress", the party, which had earlier said that it would join the electoral battle in the state, vowed to "stand in solidarity" with the TMC camp.
Top government sources also said the civic polls in the state, delayed due to the OBC reservation issue being heard by the Supreme Court, are likely to be held in October after getting a clarification from the apex court.
