Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray. (File Photo)Maharashtra News Highlights (July 10): On the second day of his Vidarbha tour, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray accused the BJP of engineering “splits” and “stealing” political parties as it was not confident of winning elections on its own. “You are trying to steal the Shiv Sena, you have stolen the NCP. Tomorrow, you will steal another party. You sell off what belongs to the country and rob what belongs to others,” Uddhav said, while taking a swipe at the BJP during his address to party workers in Amravati.
Meanwhile, NCP MLA from Wai constituency in Maharashtra’s Satara district, Makarand Patil, said he has joined the camp led by senior party leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Patil said he decided to join the Ajit Pawar camp to save two sugar factories in his constituency which are in financial crisis and in the hope of bringing development and resolving tourism-related issues in Wai. Patil was present during NCP founder Sharad Pawar’s visit to Karad city, a day after Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government.
The Supreme Court will hear on July 31 Uddhav Thackeray’s plea against the Election Commission (EC)’s order allotting the party name ‘Shiv Sena’ and symbol “Bow and Arrow” to the Eknath Shinde faction. The EC had on February 17 ordered that the Eknath Shinde camp of the Shiv Sena will retain the official name and the ‘bow and arrow’ symbol of the party.
Even as MLAs from BJP and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena await cabinet expansion, sources from the Nationalist Congress Party said the party is set to get one more cabinet minister and three minister of state berths.
Maharashtra can have a total of 43 ministers, including the Chief Minister. As of now, the total number of ministers including the CM is 29 and 14 more ministers can be sworn in. Read more
Maharashtra Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar said a proposal is under consideration to construct a new legislative building in Mumbai on the lines of the Central Vista project. He said the number of seats in the state Assembly and the Council will be in proportion to the rise in the number of voters after delimitation.
“Central Vista created entire new houses for Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha anticipating that delimitation would increase the number of members. I wish to have the same (construction of the new legislative building) here for the Maharashtra legislative assembly and the council. I hope the proposal will get enough funding for taking it forward,” he said. (PTI)
Taiwan's Foxconn has withdrawn from a USD 19.5 billion semiconductor joint venture with mining baron Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Ltd as the venture struggled to get a technology partner to make chips that are used in mobile phones to refrigerators and cars.
Aaditya Thackeray, who had lashed out at the Eknath Shinde-led state government for Vedanta-Foxconn's decision to set up its semiconductor plant in Gujarat instead of Maharashtra last year, called Monday's developments "a loss for India", adding that Maharashtra could have "propelled this growth story for India".
After the horrific bus accident that killed 25 people on Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway earlier this month, the control room has seen a rise in phone calls from motorists and travellers asking about amenities, petrol pumps and spots that are safe for halts on the route.
A control room has been set up at Harsul for the functioning stretch of the expressway and travellers can get in touch using a toll-free number. Earlier, motorists would call asking for entry-exit points, reporting accidents, animal hits, among other issues, an official said.
"However, now people have started calling the toll-free number even before they enter the expressway. Since the bus accident, we have received 45 calls about safe spots for halts. People are asking about the stop area near entry and exit points, amenities and petrol pumps," Ashish Farande, divisional officer for Samruddhi Control unit told PTI.
NCP MLA from Wai constituency in Maharashtra's Satara district, Makarand Patil, said he has joined the camp led by senior party leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
Patil said he decided to join the Ajit Pawar camp to save two sugar factories in his constituency which are in financial crisis and in the hope of bringing development and resolving tourism-related issues in Wai.
Notably, Patil was present during Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar's visit to Karad city, a day after Ajit Pawar and eight other MLAs joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear on July 31, Uddhav Thackeray's plea against the Election Commission's order allotting party name "Shiv Sena" and symbol "Bow and Arrow" to the Eknath Shinde led faction.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said the matter is listed for hearing after advocate Amit Anand Tiwari sought urgent listing of the plea. "It is listed on July 31, we will hear it on that day", the bench said and allowed Tiwari to file rejoinder on the reply filed by Shinde faction.
At a time when Mumbai residents are adopting several pet animals and facing difficulties in cremating them properly after their death, an NGO has come up with a new mobile electric crematorium for pets.
Former Shiv Sena corporator Abhishek Ghosalkar is backing the initiative by Happy Buds Foundation. Set up inside a van, the pyre operates through electricity, helping people to cremate their pets in an eco-friendly way. Read more
Five people were injured after two groups from different communities clashed near a temple in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district Sunday afternoon, said the police. According to the police, the incident occurred around 3.30 pm on Sunday.
Under the condition of anonymity, an officer said, “There is a temple in the Supreme Colony at Jalgaon. The land belongs to the municipality. However, people belonging to one community were repairing the platform in and around the temple, while the other section believed that they were increasing the length (of the platform) and would end up occupying more land, so they went there to oppose the construction.” Read more
The body of a woman tourist who drowned in the Arabian Sea near Bandra Fort on Sunday evening was found on Monday afternoon, the disaster management cell of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) informed.
The deceased has been identified as Jyoti Shonar, 27. According to the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB), the incident was reported around 5 pm near Bandra Fort. The body was recovered by the Mumbai Coast Guard at around 1 pm on Monday, after a 20-hour rescue operation and was handed over to the Mumbai Police. Read more
The Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway also known as the Samruddhi expressway has seen an average of three accidents every day since it was thrown open for public in December last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The 701-kilometre road, which is the country’s second longest expressway, sees a life being lost every third day.
Anil Kumar Gaikwad, the Joint Managing director of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), speaks to Vallabh Ozarkar on the reasons behind the mishaps on the newly inaugurated expressway and the efforts being taken by authorities to control the number of accidents. Read the full interview here
As Mumbai continue to experience heavy rain, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that the city has already received more than 50% of the average monthly quota for July within just nine days of this month.
According to the figures, the Santacruz observatory has recorded 494 mm of rainfall so far, which is 57% of 855.7 mm, which is the required quota of average rain in July. Read more
For the second time in a year, there was a rebellion within the ranks of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, this time between NCP’s uncle and nephew duo–Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar.
A summary of all that happened across Maharashtra’s political landscape, and other important news, between July 3 and 9
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by Sharad Pawar urged the defectors led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to form their own political party. It asked the Ajit Pawar faction to make its ideology public instead of creating confusion among citizens by claiming the right over the party formed by his uncle Sharad Pawar.
“Those who have left the NCP should not stake claim over the party as Sharad Pawar formed it. In the past, when senior Pawar had left the Congress, he formed his own party and never staked claim over the Congress,” said NCP state spokesperson Vikas Lavande.
NCP MLA Rohit Pawar, the grandnephew of party chief Sharad Pawar, accused the BJP of breaking the NCP and the Shiv Sena to remain in power in Maharashtra.
The legislator claimed while leaders of other parties were pitted against each other, the BJP was "enjoying" the developments. Balasaheb Thackeray formed the Shiv Sena to protect the 'Marathi Manoos' (sons of the soil) and their identity, but the BJP "broke" it, he alleged. "Today, there is an anti-BJP atmosphere in the country, and to ensure no one talks about it and all big leaders (from opposition parties) remain busy (in sorting the rumblings within their parties), the BJP first broke the Shiv Sena and now broke the NCP," he further charged.
The NCP leader also said he feels the people of Maharashtra know "who broke the family and who broke the party", and they will not forget this fact. "The people of the state, who have been seeing these developments, did not like the way the BJP broke two big parties in the state in order to get themselves to power in the state," he claimed.
Speaking to reporters in Amaravati district during a tour of Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, the former state chief minister also said that the name 'Shiv Sena' was given by his grandfather (Keshav Thackeray) and he will not let anyone "steal" it. In February this year, the Election Commission allotted the name ‘Shiv Sena' and its poll symbol ‘bow and arrow' to the group led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
With inputs from PTI.
We have sought a proposal for seat sharing from Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi. We will think about it once their proposal comes in, says Uddhav Thackeray.
With inputs from ANI.
Former Chief Minister and Shiv Shena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray said, 'It wasn't my aspiration to be the Chief Minister. I want a CM from Shiv Sena in future too. I had promised Balasaheb Thackeray that there will be a CM from Shiv Sena.' He further added EC has no right to give our party's name to someone else.
With inputs from ANI.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said had the BJP respected the “decision” taken before the 2019 Maharashtra polls on sharing of the chief ministerial post, the BJP workers would not have required to carry “carpets” of other parties now. Addressing a press conference in Yavatmal during his tour of Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, Thackeray reiterated his claim that sharing of the chief ministerial post was “decided” between him and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah before the 2019 state Assembly elections.
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A 39-YEAR-old woman working as a domestic help and arrested in 2016 for alleged theft of ornaments, sunglasses and clothes worth Rs 96,000 from a Marine Drive home, was cleared of all charges by a magistrate court in a recent order.
The court said the FIR was filed against Juliyana Pinto nearly 22 days after the theft came to light. It said that this and other grounds raise a cloud of suspicion about the credibility of the case. The woman in her defence had said that she was falsely implicated over non-payment of salary by her employer.
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A day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar kickstarted his state tour from Nasik district, two of his former close aides who have switched sides to join hands with Ajit Pawar — Dilip Walse-Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal claimed on Sunday that their leadership in respective areas has brought development to the region.
The leaders said that they have nothing against Sharad Pawar but pointed fingers at people close to him including Rohit Pawar, the grand nephew of the NCP founder.
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A 27-year-old woman drowned in the sea at Bandra on Sunday evening. The incident took place near Bandra Fort around 7 pm, as per the information received by Mumbai Fire Brigade. Currently, a search-and-rescue operation is on and the missing woman has been identified as Jyoti Shonar (27).
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Senior NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Dilip Walse Patil dismissed reports that he joined the Ajit Pawar camp because of a notice issued by the Enforcement Directorate.
Walse Patil said he owes his political existence to the Pawar senior. "I did not leave Sharad Pawar because of any notice from ED. I haven't received any notice from the ED, CBI or Income Tax," Walse Patil told the gathering.
He claimed there was no personal interest behind his decision to align with Ajit Pawar. "I heard somebody saying that I took this decision because Parag and Govardhan Dairy had received a notice from ED. I would like to clarify that I have nothing to do with these dairies. No one from our family has invested even a single rupee in these dairies," the NCP veteran, once a close confidante of the Pawar senior, said.
Walse Patil said the battle of the Ajit Pawar camp is not against Pawar saheb, as the NCP founder is popularly known. "Whatever I am today is because of Pawar saheb. I would like to tell people that whenever saheb will visit Ambegaon, you all must attend his programme. I am not worried about upcoming elections," he added. (PTI)
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said the BJP's "one nation, one party" plan would never be accepted and claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charisma is on the wane.
Addressing a rally at Digras in Yavatmal district, Thackeray said, “One nation, one law can be understood. But we will never accept one nation, one party plan of the BJP”.
Thackeray said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charisma has faded which was witnessed in the recently-held Karnataka assembly elections. "He (Modi) gave the 'Bajarang Bali ki Jai' slogan loudly, but God hit back with his mace and the BJP was whitewashed in Karnataka,” he added.
Commenting on the pleas seeking disqualification of the 16 Shiv Sena MLAs, Uddhav Thackeray said the Supreme Court has already given a framework to the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker.
"The Speaker will have to take a decision on the disqualification issue within the given framework. If he tries to bypass it, the Supreme Court's doors are always open for us,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said had the BJP respected the "decision" taken before the 2019 Maharashtra polls on sharing of the chief ministerial post, the BJP workers would not have required to carry "carpets" of other parties now.
Thackeray reiterated his claim that sharing of the chief ministerial post was "decided" between him and BJP leader Amit Shah before the 2019 state Assembly elections. Thackeray also said he is waiting to see how the BJP handles its new "riff-raffs", a week after Ajit Pawar led a split in the Nationalist Congress Party and along with eight other NCP MLAs joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government in Maharashtra.
"Today, the BJP and Shiv Sena chief ministers would have completed their tenure. If that had been done, the old BJP workers would have not required to pick up the carpets of other parties," he said.
Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal questioned the purpose of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar's rally a day earlier in Nashik and said the rebellion in the party took place in the latter's family and not because of him.
Pawar had held a rally in Nashik's Yeola, the Assembly constituency of Bhujbal, on Saturday and had told the gathering he erred in trusting some people, an apparent swipe at the latter. "Sharad Pawar saheb, why did you come to Yeola? I could not understand it. I am not responsible for the rebellion. It happened in your family," Bhujbal said at a press conference.
Hitting out further, Bhujbal said he was an Other Backward Classes leader who holds rallies and gives speeches and, therefore, Sharad Pawar, popularly referred to as Maratha strongman, may have chosen his backyard Yeola for the gathering. "Pawar saheb thinks I have created this rebellion but I have nothing to do with it. It has happened in his family. Praful Patel is his colleague in Delhi, Ajit Pawar is his family and Dilip Walse-Patil is his close aide," Bhujbal said.
Attacking Pawar further, he said, "Pawar saheb said in the rally he apologizes to the people as giving me the candidature was a mistake. However, due to me, development took place in Yeola. Therefore, there is no question of apologizing." In how many places will you apologise, Bhujbal asked Pawar.
Shiv Sena (UBT) workers pulled down posters of local MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana in Amravati in Maharashtra on the eve of the visit of Uddhav Thackeray to the Vidarbha city.
The Rana couple had claimed they would recite Hanuman Chalisa from 9am to 2pm at Girls High School square here and their supporters had put up posters informing about it.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray started a two-day tour of Maharashtra's Vidarbha region to interact with his party workers and boost their morale ahead of the Lok Sabha and state Assembly polls due next year, a party leader said.
The former Maharashtra chief minister reached Nagpur in the morning and he will hold discussions with the party cadre and supporters from Yavatmal, Washim, Amaravati, Akola and Nagpur in the Vidarbha region. "Thackeray will pay a visit to Poharadevi temple, a key religious place of the Banjara community that is widely spread in the Vidarbha region," a Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said.
Police have registered a case against two women teachers of a private school in Maharashtra's Thane district for allegedly hitting students with a steel ruler and making them stand on benches as punishment during the class.
On July 5, around 10 students of Class 5 of the school in Ulhasnagar did not get declaration forms about fees and a membership document for the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) signed by their parents. One of the accused teachers then allegedly hit the 10 students on their hands with a steel ruler, causing injuries to them, an official from Hill Line police station said. (PTI)
Union minister Ramdas Athawale said the BJP cannot be blamed for the political crisis in Maharashtra and split in NCP. "No one can dissolve any party. Accusing BJP for doing so is wrong. Whatever happened with the NCP was due to their own differences, so accusing BJP is wrong," he told ANI.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut continued the argument the the BJP was behind the split in the NCP, and the Shiv Sena. "This is BJP's conspiracy. They are breaking other parties, bringing them to their own party. Those who were the most corrupt have been declared clean after joining BJP," he said.
INDIA-BORN US national Nooriya Haveliwala, who was convicted for drunken driving and mowing down two persons including a traffic policeman in 2010, died at a city hospital early this week due to cardiac arrest.
Haveliwala was in news for days after she allegedly caused a deadly accident under the influence of alcohol. After conviction, she completed her sentence and was living with her mother at Colaba. Read more
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said had the BJP respected the “decision” taken before the 2019 Maharashtra polls on sharing of the chief ministerial post, the BJP workers would not have required to carry “carpets” of other parties now.
Addressing a press conference in Yavatmal during his tour of Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, Thackeray reiterated his claim that sharing of the chief ministerial post was “decided” between him and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah before the 2019 state Assembly elections. Read more
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said Sunday the show cause notice issued to all 54 Sena MLAs by Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar is in accordance with the order of the Supreme Court and nobody can escape it.
On Saturday, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Narwekar had served notice to MLAs of the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde as well as 16 legislators belonging to Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) asking why their membership should not be terminated following disqualification proceedings. Read more
Reacting to his nephew Ajit Pawar’s statement that he should retire from active politics because of his age, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that he was “neither tired nor retired” and said that those who were raking up the issue of his age would pay a heavy price.
After a vertical split in NCP engineered by Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar on Saturday embarked on a statewide tour to consolidate support and rebuild the party. As part of his outreach, Pawar held a rally at Yeola, which is the Assembly seat of his former associate Chaggan Bhujbal, who has now sided with Ajit Pawar. Read more
Uddhav Thackrey reaches Yavatmal, Vidarbha for his two-day tour. In Yavatmal, he will also visit the famous Pohradevi temple, which is a pilgrimage site of the Banjara community. He will address a rally at Pohradevi.
One killed and two other injured after RCC mixer carrying vehicle driver lost control while going from Sion to Vashi (North bound traffic). The accident reported at around 8:40 am at Everard Nagar Bus stop.
"The RCC cement mixer vehicle driver has been detained by Police from Shatabdi Hospital, other two injured people have been admitted in Sion Hospital," said Chunabhatti Police station Senior Police Inspector Anil Desai.
The IMD hasn’t issued any alert and maintains that Mumbai will experience light to moderate spells of rain throughout the day.
Mumbai wakes up to light rain and cloudy skies: Read on to find out more about today's weather!
“Party workers wanted Supriya to enter politics, she fought Lok Sabha polls and won. This is her third term in Lok Sabha and she also served for a small time as Rajya Sabha MP. In her entire career has she received any position of power in the government? When we came to power at the Centre, Suryakanta Patil was made a minister, Agatha Sangma was made a minister. All this happened when Supriya was a Lok Sabha MP,” Pawar said during a press conference in Nashik.
A day after Praful Patel, who had been a trusted aide of Sharad Pawar and has now shifted allegiance to Ajit Pawar, alleged that the latter’s daughter Supriya Sule had become the fulcrum of all his actions, the NCP chief on Saturday hit back at Patel, saying that he was inducted as a minister in spite of having lost Lok Sabha elections. Pawar said he was told by several NCP workers that he had not done justice to Sule by not inducting her as a minister in spite of her repeatedly winning Lok Sabha elections.