Constable R Kalekar, who had shaken hands and hugged Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt after his release from Yerwada Jail, has been suspended.
Special prosecutors will be appointed, state CM tells activists
With a month to go for Maharashtra assembly polls, Congress is facing a dilemma on continuance of its alliance with Nationalist Congress Party as a group in the party led by a Union minister is wanting the leadership to dump that party and go it alone in the elections.
Autorickshaw drivers across Maharashtra on Tuesday called off their strike after Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh gave the assurance that a committee, to look into their complaints regarding the introduction of electronic meters, will be set up. The committee is expected to submit its report in the next two months after which a decision will be taken on whether to introduce the electronic meters. Union leaders assured the chief minister that they would withdraw the strike.
The party high command has set up a high profile three-member panel of Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony, and political adviser to Congress president Ahmed Patel to review the performance of Deshmukh, who has been at the receiving end from his detractors.Speculation is rife for the past some months that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is keen to replace him."The Congress periodically conducts in-house exercises, " Tiwari said.
Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane on Friday lashed out at the Congress leadership, after state Industry Minister Ashok Chavan beat him to the chief minister's post."Chavan cannot handle even his ministry. He can't be my competitor for the CM's post, he said, adding that he was opting out of the chief ministerial race.Rane, a well-known detractor of former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, also accused the Congress high command of reneging on its promise.
Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh has offered to resign and a decision on it will be taken in a day or two, highly placed Congress sources say.
Home Minister Shivraj Patil rushed to Mumbai in the wee hours of Thursday in the wake of the deadly overnight terror attacks in the city.Patil went to Mumbai along with Director General of National Security Guards J K Dutt. Earlier, he discussed the situation with Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and assured him of all help from the Centre to combat the situation.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Wednesday said that he was seeking legal opinion before taking action against Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray, in the wake of his comments against Biharis and North Indian Members of Parliament. "If any editorial hurts the sentiments of other people, it can affect the law and order situation," Deshmukh said after meeting Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. He said a legal opinion needed to be taken.
"I have already sent a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and spoken to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Union Steel Minister Ramvilas Paswan, to use their influence in the Union government to stop attacks on Biharis. Now I am going to write to the Prime Minister," he said, when some opposition members in the state legislative council raised the issue.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh emphasised on Thursday job creation potential of foreign investors operating their plants in the state saying his government was equally concerned with employment aspect just as the volume of investment.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the Aussie skipper company had proposed to set up a township in the city on a "100 to 400 acre land".
Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh declared that the state has received approx Rs 20,000 FDI in the last 3 years.
A day after the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group declared it will be interested in buying out the Dabhol project whenever it is up for sale, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora categorically denied the Central government was considering any such proposal.
The Congress has conveyed to Rane that Sushil Kumar Shinde is likely to be made chief minister if there is a change of leadership.
Dismissing rumours about his resignation, Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, who has openly criticised Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's style of functioning, said he is still in the Congress.
Vilasrao Deshmukh's biggest enemy is not the BJP-Shiv Sena combine. It is not the NCP, however much he may grumble about them. The enemy is his own party.
The Mumbai Cricket Association requested the Maharashtra government to allot it a plot of land for building a bigger stadium in the southern part of the metropolis.
The commission also asked Deshmukh to pay to the state government the expenses incurred during his air travel to Pune and Kolhapur districts last month to attend, what it called, "political and private functions."
The Maharashtra government has drawn up an ambitious $60 billion (Rs 2.25 lakh crore) action plan for makeover of Mumbai, aimed to convert India's commercial capital into a global financial hub.Mumbai makeover plan is aimed at creating world-class infrastructure and to set up an integrated urban transport system using existing suburban rail, ambitious metro rail system, hovercraft, sealink and road connectivity
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh announced Rs 10 lakh each to Mumbai boys Rohit Sharma and Ajit Agarkar.
S M Krishna, who was until recently the chief minister of neighbouring Karnataka, takes over from Mohammed Fazal.
"The people have voted in large numbers for Congress and the policies of the DF governments," Deshmukh said in a official release.
"I don't want a government job but want the culprits to be hanged to death."
Sources in the Maharashtra Congress and the NCP have said that the scheduled cabinet expansion may have to be put off.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Thursday scotched speculation about any threat to his position after a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. "All is well. I am satisfied," he said after the meeting, the first after the defeat of the NCP-Congress candidate in the Thane Lok Sabha bypoll.
However, the Shiv Sena reacted angrily to any move to reopen the cases saying it amounts to saying "hang the Hindus" with an eye on Muslim votes.
"I will myself attend the Chhat Puja celebration," Deshmukh said, while replying to a query on the sidelines of a function organised by Marathi daily Dainik Ekmat. Asked about Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's threat in his May 3 speech at Shivaji Park that he would not allow Lalu's Chhat Puja, Deshmukh said: "I will be there. It will be seen who has more strength."
Shankar Prajapati, a 57-year-old potter in Dharavi, has given up hope of getting a bigger house for his family. He lives cheek by jowl in a hutment measuring 200 square (sq.) feet (ft) in the nondescript shanty town. "We have surrendered to our fate. We cannot wait forever for better accommodation. "Perhaps we are not meant to dream big," despairs Prajapati. Raju Korde, president, Dharavi Redevelopment Committee, and a local resident, agrees with Prajapati.
The state-of-the-art township will have movie studios, theme park, hotels, movie museum and shopping malls. The agreement was singed in Los Angeles during Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's visit to New York on Tuesday.
No one from Pravin's family was present at the wedding.
The actress has been noted for her contribution to cinema.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has offered to set up high tech agro kiosks across Maharasthra to help farmers get information on weather and cropping patterns.
Deshmukh is on an eight-day tour of the United States to promote Maharashtra as a preferred investment destination in India.
Five major industry groups have signed MoUs to set up large projects in Maharashtra entailing an investment of Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion).
The Maharashtra government on Thursday appointed a fact-finding committee, headed by noted water management expert Madhav Chitale, to probe the 'collapse' of various civic amenities in Mumbai following the recent heavy rains. \n\n
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani will deliver a special address at the first-ever, high-level investment conference on Maharashtra to beheld in New York this month.
Brushing aside the criticisms on filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma being part of his entourage to the terror-hit Taj hotel and other sites, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Monday said there was "no bad intention in it".
Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh said on Thursday that the state government was giving priority to rehabilitation of the rain-affected persons.
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