Amid reports that more leaders from Congress and Nationalist Congress Party from Maharashtra could have links with the controversial Adarsh Housing Society, three ex-Maharashtra chief ministers and a NCP leader have claimed they had not recommended any case for membership.
Pinning the blame on former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, suspended state information commissioner and Adarsh Housing Society scam accused Ramanand Tiwari has told the judicial panel probing the case that it was Deshmukh who had approved all proposals pertaining to the high rise in south Mumbai.
The inquiry commission probing the Adarsh Housing Society scam has issued summons to former Maharashtra chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan to appear before it as witnesses. The two-member commission, which summoned Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde last week, issued summons to Deshmukh, presently Union minister for rural development, and Chavan.Chavan had to step down as the state chief minister last year following the Adarsh controversy.
The newly expanded Maharashtra council of ministers has several leaders from political families.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay a Bombay high court judgment making remarks against former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in a case involving allotment of 20 acre land to filmmaker Subhash Ghai's institute. The apex court, however, said it will hear in detail the petition filed by Deshmukh, now a Union minister, seeking expunging of remarks made by the high court in its February 9 judgment.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet of ministers on Saturday declared their assets.
The government has revised the wages for unskilled manual workers under the national rural employment guarantee scheme by indexing it to inflation, Rural Development Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said.
Following a meeting of Congress Parliamentary Party, where some members felt that leaders from Maharashtra should be roped in to talk to the 74-year-old Gandhian, Deshmukh drove to Ramlila Maidan to meet Hazare but maintained that it was "in his personal capacity."
An ordinance to this effect is likely to be issued soon, a senior minister told PTI after the weekly Cabinet meeting in Mumbai.
Union minister and a key member of the Lokpal bill drafting committee Kapil Sibal on Thursday said that Team Hazare's version of the legislation was unacceptable, as some of its provisions were against the basic tenets of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for preventing police from registering a criminal case against a Congress legislator's moneylender father and imposed a staggering Rs 10 lakh fine on the state government.
Union Minister for Rural Development and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday said the land for the controversial Adarsh Society belonged to the state and was never reserved for defence personnel or Kargil war heroes. In an affidavit filed before the two-member Adarsh Commission, set up to probe irregularities in the scam-tainted Adarsh Society, Deshmukh said, "The records clearly show that the land belonged to the state government."
The five-member Group of Ministers (GoM) also include Agriculture Minister Sharad Paward, Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Chemical and Fertiliser Minister M K Azhagiri, official sources said.
Union Minister for Heavy Industries Vilasrao Deshmukh on Saturday said he saw nothing wrong in Maharashtra Congress ministers donating money for party chief Sonia Gandhi's public rally near Nagpur.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation, the investigating agency in Adarsh Housing Society scam, to look into the allegations of involvement of Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde, and submit a progress report by next week.
In a setback to film producer Subhash Ghai, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Bombay high court order quashing the 20 acre land allotted to his film institute in Mumbai. A bench of justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad also pulled up former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for allotting the land in 2004, saying the CM cannot bend or bypass rules to give away government land.
The Congress Working Committee meeting witnessed Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar being targetted by senior Congress leaders on the issue of spiraling price rise. The three leaders who attacked Sharad Pawar but did not name him were former maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, All India Congress Committee general secretaries R K Dhawan and Satyavrat Chaturvedi.
Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Monday visited Anna Hazare, who ended his 13-day fast for an effective Lokpal Bill, at a private hospital in neighbouring Gurgaon.
Immediately after Parliament agreed to Anna Hazare's three key demands on Lokpal Bill, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday sent him a letter conveying the same and urged the Gandhian to give up his 12-day fast. "As you know, Parliament today discussed Lokpal related issues. You will be happy to know that both Houses of Parliament have passed a resolution on the three points raised by you," Dr Singh said in the letter which was handed over to Hazare.
If the country wants to have eco-friendly vehicle, definitely some concessions have to be offered.
Denying the charge of backing rebel of Congress leader Sunil Deshmukh against the candidature of President Pratibha Patil's son Raosaheb Shekhawat from Amravati in Maharashtra assembly polls, Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said on Tuesday that party workers should learn to accept the party's decision.
Keeping up the trend of power legacy in Indian politics, at least 20 candidates contesting in the forthcoming Maharashtra assembly elections are sons and daughters of prominent political leaders.
Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushil Kumar Shinde's son and daughter respectively figure in the third list of Congress candidates for the Maharashtra assembly polls.While Deshmukh's son Amit will contest from Latur city constituency, Shinde's daughter Praniti will fight from Solapur city central. The third list was announced by the All India Congress Committee on Thursday night. Rajendra Shekhawat, son of President Pratibha Patil, has already been nominated.
Maharashtra Congress leaders on Tuesday met at Defence Minister AK Antony's residence to discuss seat-sharing formula for the October's assembly elections. Maharashtra's Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, former chief minister Narayan Rane, Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Mumbai Congress chief Kripa Shankar Singh attended the meeting.
Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is against an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party, was made chairman of the Congress election management committee on Friday, possibly raising questions over the tie-up in the Assembly polls in Maharashtra.
Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister-designate Ajit Pawar has always been known in state political circles as the real power centre in Nationalist Congress Party founded by his uncle Sharad Pawar 11 years ago.
Starting a blame game, Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said it was Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan as the then Revenue Minister who asked the controversial housing society involved in a scam in Mumbai to change the bye-laws to include civilians in it.
Union minister and Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh and two Nationalist Congress Party candidates were elected on Monday to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra. NCP leaders Govindrao Adik and Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil were elected to the Upper House of parliament against the seats vacated by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and Supriya Sule after their election to Lok Sabha.
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.
Former India skipper and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar and Union Minister for Heavy Industries Vilasrao Deshmukh were on Tuesday elected unopposed as vice-presidents of Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). After the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended on Tuesday evening, both Vengsarkar and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Deshmukh were left without any opponent for the July 10 elections.
Union Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Saturday asked people not to attach much importance to what the Thackerays say and accused the family members of fighting among themselves to strengthen their political base in Maharashtra. "Don't attach much importance to what they say. It is their family problem, to strengthen their (respective) political base," the former Maharashtra chief minister said.
The couple celebrated the big day with friends in the film industry.
The government said on Friday it is considering offloading 10 per cent of its equity stake in navratna public sector unit Bharat Heavy electricals Limited.
Do you agree with NCP leader Sharad Pawar? Cast your vote to let us know.
While the BJP wants a bigger share, on the back of its spectacular performance in the April-May Lok Sabha polls, the Sena is not willing to play ball, said sources from both parties.
Vilasrao Deshmukh, who had earlier come under severe criticism from the Supreme Court for interdicting police action against a Congress member of Legislative Assembly in Maharashtra, came under further attack from an apex court judge who questioned his continuance in the government.
Congress sources in New Delhi say the race is narrowing down between Deshmukh and Chavan with latter having an edge.
P Chidambaram was conspicuous by his absence on the dais at the second day of the plenary.
The Congress is acting against its own candidate in Amravati and President's son Raosaheb Shekhawat, Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Gopinath Munde said on Monday.
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