PORTFOLIOS in the Mahavikas Aghadi Government in Maharashtra were allotted on Thursday, two weeks after Uddhav Thackeray was sworn-in as Chief Minister, with his party, Shiv Sena, getting the important Home Ministry. Thackeray, alongwith six ministers -- two each from Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress -- took oath of office on November 28...

THE ruling BJP swept the by-elections winning 12 of the total 15 seats, helping the four-month-old B S Yediyurappa Government to retain majority in the Assembly. Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and State Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao quit their posts after the party posted a poor show, winning only two seats, as against the 12 it had held of the 15 which went to the by-polls on December 5. Both tendered their resignations to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, “citing unsatisfactory ..

THE Maharashtra Assembly on Sunday witnessed verbal swordplay between Chief Minister Thackeray and his predecessor Devendra Fadnavis as the former taunted that he was in the House though he never said “Me punha yein” (I will come back), an election slogan of the BJP leader who retorted that he will return as CM and they only have to wait for some time. “I will not hesitate to admit that we have been good friends for a long time. Had you listened to us, I would have been sitting at home watching today’s ..

MUMBAINATIONALIST Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar said on Friday that as per the agreement between constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, his party is supposed to get the post of Deputy Chief Minister, while the Speaker would be from the Congress.   Pawar’s statement followed reports that the Congress is now demanding Deputy Chief Minister’s post, and is ready to give up the Speaker’s post to the NCP. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was sworn-in as Maharashtr..

LONG stints in electoral politics and past experience in handling key Government departments are the hallmarks of Congress-NCP-Shiv Sena legislators who took oath as ministers along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at the Shivaji Park here on Thursday evening. CHHAGAN BHUJBAL: Bhujbal (72) is a veteran figure in Maharashtra politics, who has the rare distinction of being associated with all the three major non-BJP parties in the State. A senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, ..

As a finale to a chain of dramatic political events in the past one month, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray took oath of office and secrecy as Chief Minister of Maharashtra, swearing by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, his parents and Constitution. After he completed the oath administered by Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the newly sworn-in Chief Minister knelt before the countless thousands of people at the historic Shivteerth (Shivaji Park), which the people welcomed with thunderous ..

WHEN Sharad Pawar addressed a rain-soaked rally in Maharashtra’s Satara during campaigning for the October 21 Assembly polls, few thought that the 79-year-old would be the driving force behind the new Government. With the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress all set to assume power in Maharashtra, the patriarch of this unlikely anti-BJP combine is the one left smiling, having outwitted stalwarts from the BJP camp. Having brought his party out of a virtual existential crisis ahead of the Assembly polls, Pawar’s ..

THE Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered floor-test for Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday to prove his majority in House saying there is a “possibility of horse trading” in case of delay. As a month has elapsed after the declaration of results of the Assembly elections it is ‘incumbent upon the court to protect the democratic values’ for which ‘immediate floor test’ is the “most effective mechanism” to curtail unlawful practices such as horse trading as well as to avoid uncertainty ..

“I didn’t just make claims but also work for its implementation,” said Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and MSME Nitin Gadkari. He was speaking at the concluding session of Agrovision. Agrovision National Agriculture exhibition concluded on Monday on a positive note. The event concluded in presence of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Minister of Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar, former Energy Minister of Maharashtra, Chandrashek..

AMID the high-voltage political drama in Maharashtra, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday said it has closed probe in nine cases of alleged corruption in irrigation projects in the State, but clarified none of them was linked to deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. The ACB’s clarification came after Opposition Congress claimed Ajit Pawar was “exonerated” in lieu of his support to the BJP in forming a Government two days ago. As a Minister in the erstwhile Congress-NCP Government, Ajit Pawar had ..

AMID the political drama in Maharashtra with NCP’s Ajit Pawar supporting the BJP to form Government, the people of Baramati, which is the bastion of Pawars, are hopeful that NCP chief Sharad Pawar will be able to resolve the current crisis in his party. Ajit Pawar, the NCP chief’s nephew who won from Pune’s Baramati seat in the last month’s State polls with a huge victory margin of 1.65 lakh votes, on Sunday joined hands with the BJP in a coup and took oath as deputy of Maharashtra Chief Minister ..

AMID the push of NCP, Shiv Sena and Congress for a floor test, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday met BJP’s newly-elected MLAs here. Speaking to ANI, BJP legislator Ram Kadam said the party has no dearth of MLAs. “We have required numbers of MLAs,” he said. The BJP leader said the meeting was called in view of the floor test...

IN AN unprecedented confidence building measure, the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress are conducting ‘cross-meetings’ with the legislators of their parties in the proposed ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ here on Sunday, party sources said. For starters, NCP President Sharad Pawar met his party legislators at Hotel Renaissance along with Nawab Malik, and were later joined by Shiv Sena senior leaders like Subhash Desai and Eknath Shinde. Later, Sena President Uddhav Thackeray and party MP ..

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP0 President Sharad Pawar on Saturday said the decision of his nephew Ajit Pawar to join hands with the BJP to form a Government in Maharashtra was an act of indiscipline and attracts provisions of anti-defection law. Pawar was addressing a joint press conference with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray here. “Ajit Pawar’s decision is an act of indiscipline. No NCP worker is in favour of the NCP-BJP Government. NCP MLAs who support the BJP should know this move attracts ..

THE NCP on Saturday evening removed Ajit Pawar as the party’s legislature unit leader after he joined hands with the BJP and took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Ajit Pawar’s actions defied the party’s policies, said a resolution passed at the legislature wing’s meeting here, attended by party supremo Sharad Pawar. State NCP chief Jayant Patil will have all the constitutional rights till the next legislature party leader is elected, it said...

A NEW Government in Maharashtra should be in place before December and a final decision on it will be taken in a day or two, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said on Thursday, amid parleys between his party and the Congress-NCP combine. Raut said he will meet NCP president Sharad Pawar on Thursday. To further discuss the modalities of Government formation, another round of meeting among the three parties will be held in Mumbai, he said...

NCP chief Sharad Pawar has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate an international conference being organised by the Pune-based Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) in January-end. Pawar, who heads the VSI, has invited Modi even as the NCP and the Congress are discussing modalities of forming Government in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena in their bid to keep the BJP away from power in the State. The former Union Agriculture Minister has written a letter to the Prime Minister inviting him for ..

AS SPECULATION spirals over Government formation in Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament over farmers’ distress in Maharashtra, even as the Congress and NCP stepped up momentum on forming the Government in the coastal State. Pawar said that in a memorandum that he brought the “alarming situation” to the Prime Minister’s notice and demanded a “complete and unconditional” farm loan waiver in the wake of the recent ..

THE national capital continued to be the centre of activities about Government formation in Maharashtra on Tuesday, but with no clear-cut arrangement emerging, it looks unlikely that a new regime will be in place in the western Indian State anytime soon. Results of the October 21 Assembly polls were declared on October 24 and President’s rule was imposed in the State on November 12 after no party or combine staked claim to form the new Government...

NO EARLY resolution of the 26-day-old impasse on Government formation in Maharashtra appeared in sight on Monday, even as NCP chief Sharad Pawar said the issue did not figure in his meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi earlier in the day. Pawar also denied having finalised any Common Minimum Programme (CMP) with Congress and Shiv Sena and said that they will monitor the situation in the State which is currently under President’s rule...

ARMED with the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Rafale issue, BJP activists on Saturday staged a protest here seeking an apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi had been critical of the Modi Government over the deal to purchase 36 fighter jets from France’s Dassault Aviation. The protest was held as part of the BJP plan to hold nationwide demonstrations on the issue. On the occasion, Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said Gandhi’s allegations had brought ignominy to the country..

BHARATIYA Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday fielded 13 disqualified Congress-JD(S) legislators as its candidates for the December 5 Assembly by-elections in Karnataka hours after the rebels joined the ruling party in the State. The party aiming to win a majority of the 15 seats that will go for the by-polls announced a list of 14 candidates with the nominee for Ranebennur constituency yet to be named. A day after the Supreme Court paved the way for them to contest the by-polls, as many as 16 disqualified ..

THE Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the disqualification of the 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs in Karnataka whose rebellion led to the fall of the Kumaraswamy Government and the return of the BJP to power in July but gave some relief by allowing them to contest the upcoming by-polls to 15 Assembly seats. As the court struck down the portion of the order of the then Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar by which the legislators were disqualified till the end of the current term of the State Assembly in 2023, all eyes ..

SHIV Sena President Uddhav Thackeray met Maharashtra Congress leaders here on Wednesday and said that talks over Government formation in the State were progressing in the “right direction” and a decision will be taken at an appropriate time. Maharashtra Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat, however, dubbed the meet with Thackeray as a “courtesy call”, and said the fact that they were meeting was itself a “positive” step. Thackeray held talks with Thorat, former state Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and senior ..

THE Shiv Sena on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Maharashtra Governor’s decision of not granting it three days to submit the letter of support for Government formation in the State but failed to get an urgent hearing in the matter. The petition is likely to come up before the apex court on Wednesday morning. The lawyer representing the Shiv Sena told PTI that the apex court registry has informed that it is “not possible to constitute a bench today”...

Maharashtra’s political scenario got the messiest Monday evening as Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari refused to give Shiv Sena any extension of time beyond 7.30 pm as the belligerent party failed to notch up numbers when Congress and Nationalist Congress Party refused to give formal letters of support to its bid to form the Government. As the next option, the Governor, then, offered the third largest party in Maharashtra Legislature -- the Nationalist Congress Party -- to convey its willingness to form ..

FORMER VHP president Praveen Togadia on Saturday welcomed the Supreme Court verdict in the Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case, saying the apex court’s order giving Ram Lala’s birth land for Ram Temple is a salute to the sacrifice of lakhs of workers. The Supreme Court on Saturday cleared the way for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot a 5-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque...

UNION Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat should not be linked to the Government formation moves in Maharashtra. He also said that a decision will soon be taken on Government formation in the State, and since the BJP won more number of seats than the Sena, the Chief Minister will be from his party. Speaking to reporters here, the Lok Sabha member from Nagpur also ruled out his return to his home State to assume the top job...

SENIOR Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Wednesday met BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, triggering speculation in view of the stalemate in Government formation in Maharashtra. However, Patel, Congress Treasurer, insisted that politics was not discussed at all during his meeting with Gadkari, who hails from Maharashtra. He said that he went to meet Gadkari on the issue of farmers. He also released a letter written to Gadkari regarding MSME sector of Gujarat, raising concern about the increasing ..

AMID the deadlock over Government formation in Maharashtra, senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday reiterated that the State’s next Chief Minister will be from his party. He said the politics of Maharashtra was changing and his party would win in its fight for justice. “The decision on Maharashtra will be taken in Maharashtra, the Chief Minister will be from the Shiv Sena,” Raut told reporters here. Amid reports of the Shiv Sena making friendly overtures to the NCP, Raut said Sharad Pawar ..

THE newly-elected Shiv Sena MLAs on Thursday elected Eknath Shinde as the leader of the party’s legislative wing. Sunil Prabhu was elected as the chief whip of the party in the Maharashtra legislature. Shinde, MLA from neighbouring Thane, was the leader of house in the previous term as well, besides being a Cabinet Minister in the BJP-Sena government. First-time MLA and Thackeray family scion Aaditya tabled the motion to elect Shinde as the leader of House...

DEVENDRA Fadnavis onTuesday said the Shiv Sena was not promised the CM’s post for two-anda-half years when the alliance was formalised before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Amid the ongoing tussle between the BJP and Shiv Sena over sharing of power in the next State Government, Fadnavis asserted he will be the Chief Minister for next five years. He also expressed displeasure over the Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ frequently targeting the BJP, saying its role was to “derail” the talks...

MANOHAR Lal Khattar is all set to head a new Government in Haryana with JJP leader Dushyant Chautala as his deputy after the Governor on Saturday invited him to lead the coalition which also has the support of seven Independents. Khattar, Dushyant and some Ministers will be sworn-in at 2:15 pm at the Haryana Raj Bhavan on Sunday. The day saw fast-paced developments with 65-year-old Khattar unanimously elected leader of the BJP’s legislative party in Haryana..

THE Shiv Sena on Saturday demanded a written assurance from ally BJP that it will implement the formula for equal sharing of power in Maharashtra, while Opposition Congress said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party should explore “alternative arrangement”. Newly-elected MLAs of the Sena, who met party chief Uddhav Thackeray at his residence here, demanded that his son and Yuva Sena chief Aaditya be made Chief Minister..

THE Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all set to form a new Government in Haryana after clinching an alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which won 10 seats in the 90-member Assembly, by giving it the post of Deputy Chief Minister. BJP President Amit Shah announced at a press conference, held with JJP leader Dushyant Chautala, that the Chief Minister will be from his party and the Deputy Chief Minister from the regional party. Incumbent Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is likely to be elected ..