In other news, a police sub-inspector and six constables, who were part of an escorting team of DHFL group promoters Dheeraj Wadhawan and Kapil Wadhawan, were on Tuesday suspended by the Navi Mumbai police commissionerate for allegedly giving special treatment to them. According to police, the escorting team had given allowed the Wadhawan brothers, who were jailed in a multi-crore scam, to enjoy meals and use mobile phones and laptops during their visits to JJ and KEM hospitals in Mumbai on August 9 and August 7 respectively.
Giving further push to the Miyawaki urban forestation technique, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) launched a drive of planting 10,264 saplings at Chembur’s Sharad Narayan Acharya Park on Monday. Speaking to The Indian Express, Jeetendra Pardeshi, superintendent of gardens and tree department said, “The civic body is on a spree to develop 14 Miyawaki forests, which will all be completed by Diwali. The plantation drive was inaugurated on Monday in Chembur, where one of the 14 forests will come up.”
monthly limit of free stories.
with an Express account.
Bomb detection personnel along with sniffer dogs searched the Maharashtra secretariat after police received a phone call about an explosive being placed in the high-security complex, but it turned out to be a false alarm.
A man, who was under the influence of alcohol, was later detained in Ahmednagar in western Maharashtra for allegedly making the bomb threat call. A phone call was received on 112 helpline of the Navi Mumbai police in the afternoon about a bomb being placed in Mantralaya or the state secretariat.
Haryana Home Minister and BJP leader Anil Vij speaks said the INDIA alliance is not a party but a tea party. "They fight with each other during the day and sit down for tea at night. You will see their condition, this is just the beginning. In Delhi, Kejriwal and Congress are fighting each other. In Punjab, AAP and Congress are fighting each other," he said.
On the INDIA alliance meeting, National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah said a convener should be appointed. "A Working Group is also needed because given the kind of situation that is forming, we can't hold a meeting every two months like this. I think if meetings are held more regularly by forming a Working Group, it will definitely be effective."
When asked who will be the PM face of INDIA alliance, Abdullah said, "If you ask me, I don't think we need to announce any Prime Ministerial face. Let the elections take place, let us get majority. A decision will be made after that."
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that the Centre has neglected Hindu sentiments by calling for a Parliament session at a time Ganesh Chaturthi will be celebrated.
Veteran politician Lalu Prasad Yadav visited Siddhivinayak temple, Delhi and Punjab CMs Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann were welcomed by Congress leaders, while NCP MP Supriya Sule welcomed Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to Mumbai. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti vowed that through the alliance India will unite and win.
Addressign reporters, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that as India readies to host the G-20 summit, other countries are watching how billion of dollars are going out, resulting in harm to India's image.
"The reputation of India is at the stake. India no longer has a level playing field. All contracts and projects are given to one person. Only person is buying all the assets of the country. It is clear that, that one person has done something wrong. It is an indicator of panic. Just like when they revoked my membership in Lok Sabha. Whenever one raises the Adani matter, the PM becomes uncomfortable," he said.
Displaying copies of news stories by the Financial Times and The Guardian on the allegations against Adani group, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi raised questions over the ownership of the money in question. "There are two foreign nationals along with Gautam Adani's brother Vinod involved in this. Second question is, why these two foreign nationals were allowed to play with India's infrastructure?"
Rahul said that a clean chit was given to Adani after an investigation by SEBI. "It looks like a institutional network where foreign money is being pumped into buying ports and airports of India. Why is Prime Minister Narendra Modi quiet about this? Why is there no problem? Why are agencies like CBI and ED not probing this?"
Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said the INDIA alliance has no definite agenda and their only theme is Modi Hatao.
"They may succeed in projecting a united front. But the differences within over leadership will defeat their stated objective. It's a fight for survival to save their respective parties and families," he said.
A BJP member Priti Gandhi took to X to list the rates of various items and room tariffs at the Grand Hyatt, where members of the INDIA alliance will be staying till tomorrow. She took a swipe at the leaders for staying at such an expensive hotel to discuss poverty and unemployment.
The Maharashtra government will set up 1,499 new colleges across the state this year, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said. In a social media post, Fadnavis said, "The Maharashtra government will set up 1,499 new colleges this year in the state as part of a five-year plan approved in a meeting held here."
The deputy CM said the plan is for the period 2024-29. The meeting also expressed satisfaction over effective implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP).
Traffic on the Pune-bound lanes of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway will be stopped for two hours on Friday to erect a gantry at Lonavala. The work will take place between 12 noon and 2pm and Pune-bound motorists are urged to exit the expressway at Khandala Ghat and re-enter it at Valavan toll plaza near Lonavala
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Anil Desai said two more Maharashtra-based regional parties will join the bloc.
Speaking to ANI, Anil Desai said, "Two more regional parties in Maharashtra will join INDIA, taking the total number of parties in the alliance from 26 to 28."
Congress MP Nasir Hussain, too, claimed that 7 big and small parties were in touch with them. "7 more big and small parties are in touch with us and we are considering bringing them on board. We will arrive at a decision and make a formal announcement shortly," Desai told ANI.
As Shiv Sena UBT president Uddhav Thackeray reached the Grand Hyatt hotel in Mumbai for the INDIA meeting, CM Eknath Shinde warned them to not "play with fire". "All the opposition parties have come together to plan the strategy to defeat Modi ji. But I will give them advice, do not play with fire, you will get burned," he said.
Hitting out at the Opposition's claim that while their alliance has many PM faces, while the NDA only has Narendra Modi, Shinde said Raavan had multiple faces."But we are the people of Lord Shri Ram. We have one face," he added.
Amid ongoing excavation work for the entry/exit of Mantralaya subway, some windows of the secretariat got damaged during the blasting work.
"We assure that MMRC conducts its work with all due diligence.We are stopping controlled blasting work at subway near Mantralaya and work will be restarted only after causes are studied and corrective action is taken" the MMRC spokesperson said.
Opposition leaders began gathering at the Grand Hyatt hotel to attend teh tw-day INDIA alliance meet. Among those who reached Mumbai today include CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechuri, PDP's Mehbooba Mufti, Congress' Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee reached Mumbai on Wednesday, and met Uddhav Thackeray and Amitabh Bachchan upon arrival.
Dalit leader and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) president Prakash Ambedkar has said that he is not going to attend the two-day meeting of the Opposition bloc 'India National Developmental Inclusive Alliance' (INDIA).
"I have not received any invitation for the INDIA meet. So, my question of attending the meet does not arise," Ambedkar said.
BJP national secretary Pankaja Munde on Wednesday offered prayers at the Renuka Devi temple in Nanded district’s Mahur.
Pankaja, who has been sidelined by BJP, has taken the decision to visit popular temples and shakti peeths across Maharashtra, said sources.
Beginning her visit with the Renuka Devi temple — a shakti peeth — Pankaja said, “I have offered prayers, and sought blessings.” Read more
The Centre is trying to control non-BJP ruled states, thus jeopardising the federal structure of India, and to achieve its poitical agenda, the BJP-led government at the Centre is misusing Niti Ayog, bureaucracy and central investigative agencies, according to Aam Admi Party ( MP) Raghav Chadha. Read more
Maharashtra recorded just 40 per cent of the normal rain in August, triggering concerns about an impending drought, with 11 districts receiving 32 to 44 per cent less rainfall this monsoon between June and end of August, according to agriculture department data.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has taken an initiative to monitor the situation complete with comprehensive plans taluka wise. Read more
On April 10, 2018, the headless body of a man was found in bushes near an electric tower atop a small hillock in the Javasai village in Thane’s Ambernath.
The decapitated body with burnt skin gave the police little clue about the victim’s identity for nearly seven months. The Ambarnath police, with the help of forensic experts at KEM Hospital in Mumbai, identified the victim by reconstructing his face on the skull using 3D technology and later arrested the suspects in the case. He was small-time businessman Bindresh Prajapati, in his thirties, who had gone missing a few months earlier.
Read full story here
Ahead of Opposition bloc Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)’s two-day meeting in Mumbai, a poster war of sorts has broken out in the city with supporters of various alliance parties putting up hoardings and banners supporting their leaders. These posters have come up at the airport as well as around the Grand Hyatt hotel, where the two-day meeting begins Thursday. Read more
The Congress today renewed their push for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the fresh allegations against the Adani group published in a report by Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who is in Mumbai the third meeting of INDIA bloc, said, “We reiterate that formation of JPC is inevitable to know the truth in Adani matter.” He added that party MP Rahul Gandhi will speak in detail about the exposé on Adani at a presser around 5 pm.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said INDIA bloc has to take a "collective decision" on the inclusion of new members, and added that parties, like the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, need to be consulted over this.
Pawar also did not seem enthusiastic about the prospect of the Akali Dal joining the grouping. Asked about the possibility of the Punjab-based party making an entry into the alliance, he said there was no such proposal but it could be thought about in case the Akalis were inclined.
However, he said, "We can think about it but it is not easy because we have (Arvind) Kejriwal whose party (Aam Aadmi Party) is ruling Punjab. The Congress party has a different policy there. That is why we will not do anything that enhances our differences." Asked why Muslim parties, such as Badruddin Ajmal's AIUDF, were not part of the opposition alliance and any possibility of their joining the front in the future, Pawar said, "They have spoken with me and are inclined to go with us. But I can't take a decision on this alone, we will have to speak with the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on this." "There will be a collective decision on that and till then accepting their overtures is difficult," he said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said the opposition's INDIA grouping has several options available for the prime ministerial candidate, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has only one choice.
"The question about choice for the prime minister's post should be asked to the BJP, which has only one option that we have seen for the last nine years. INDIA alliance has several options for the PM post. What choice does the BJP have?" Thackeray said in response to a question.
He also took a swipe at the Centre over its decision to slash the LPG cylinder price by Rs 200 as a `Raksha Bandhan gift'. "Was there no Raksha Bandhan during the last nine years? As INDIA (alliance) advances, LPG cylinders will be given free. No matter what they (government) do, people are smart and understand everything," Thackeray said.
Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrshekhar Bawankule said the INDIA alliance constituents will enjoy their time in a hotel in Mumbai for two days and go back.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met actor Amitabh Bachchan, after arriving in Mumbai today. Among the family members she met was Jaya Bachchan, a Samajwadi Party MP in the Rajya Sabha.
Bachchan had attended the inaugural function of last year's Kolkata International Film Festival, where Banerjee demanded that he be accorded the country's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna for his contribution to Indian cinema. “Amit ji is our Bharat Ratna. His family has also made a big contribution to the film industry," she said.
The following roads are now 'no parking zones':
Fisherfolk in Navi Mumbai celebrated Narali Purnima, a festival that marks the beginning of harvest season. The festival is celebrated by offering prayers to Lord Varuna - the God of Water, for abundant rains and plentiful harvest.
Political messaging and communal harmony were on display at the public celebration of Raksha Bandhan festival in Thane city. In Mahajan Wadi locality, several Hindu women tied rachis on the wrists of Muslim men and vice versa.
In Savarkar Nagar, people from Hindu and Muslim communities attended a Rakhi event organised by local leaders of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. Separately, women victims of human trafficking tied rakhis on the wrist of BJP MLC Niranjan Davkhare In other parts of Thane and Palghar districts, tribal women tied rakhis to police officers.
Union minister Ramdas Athawale said he would welcome if Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati decides to join hands with the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA). He, however, said that it was up to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heads the NDA, to decide about inviting the BSP to become part of the front.
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will be the chief guest at the launch ceremony of stealth frigate 'Mahendragiri' at Mumbai on Friday.
'Mahendragiri', it said, is the seventh stealth frigate under Project 17A of the Indian Navy, and the fourth constructed by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited.
Mumbai Police has registered a case against 11 protesters on the charge of attempting suicide after they climbed onto a safety net on the first floor of the Maharashtra secretariat here for various demands.
A group of protesters on Tuesday climbed onto the safety net set up on the first floor of Mantralaya demanding proper compensation for their land acquired for the Upper Wardha dam project. The protesters also demanded four acres farm land for each villager whose land was acquired for the dam project and state government jobs for the project-affected people. After the protest, police detained at least 40 protesters.
NCP president Sharad Pawar may be busy getting ready for the INDIA bloc's meeting in Mumbai with other Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents, but his close friend and industrialist Dr Cyrus Poonawalla has an advice for the octogenarian.
Poonawalla said that Pawar (82) had two opportunities to become the prime minister but things did not work in his favour. Now it is time for him to hang up his boots, he said. “My advice to Sharad Pawar... He had two opportunities to become the PM but he lost them. He is a clever person. He could have served well (as PM) but those chances are gone. I am also getting older and he is also ageing and therefore he should retire,” said Poonawalla.
An FIR has been registered against a man from Maharashtra's Thane district on charges of rape and criminal intimidation after a 27-year-old woman alleged that he married her by hiding his true identity, forced her to convert to Islam, and then gave her triple talaq, police said.
Police are yet to arrest the accused, identified as Raju alias Siraj Qureshi, a resident of Bhiwandi, a police official said. As per the First Information Report (FIR), the victim woman got separated from her husband in 2018 and was taking care of herself and her seven-year-old daughter.
In 2019, the woman became friends with the accused through social media who identified himself as Raju. He told the woman that he owned a hotel in Bhiwandi and proposed to marry her. He allegedly raped the woman at a lodge in 2020. On January 26 that year, he married the woman as per Hindu customs, the official said quoting the FIR.
The accused revealed his true identity as Siraj Qureshi a year after the marriage and asked the woman to convert to Islam if she wanted to live with him. The woman accepted his demand and later they married again as per Islamic customs last May, it said. "In May this year, Qureshi told the woman that he was already married with four children and he would lose his share in ancestral property if they continued their relation, and gave her triple talaq," the official said. (PTI)
Ahead of the conclave, Congress leader Milind Deora said that seat sharing for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls among alliance partners is more or less finalised in most states barring a few that require more time.
Deora, who is closely involved in organising the meeting, also hailed the "evolving chemistry" between the INDIA bloc partners and said the best example of that was in Maharashtra.
INDIA bloc constituent RLD's chief Jayant Chaudhary has dismissed as "conjecture" the talks about the possibility of his party switching over to the NDA and said parties would not be comfortable in joining hands with the BJP which is "very effective" at steam-rolling dissenting voices.
In an interview with PTI ahead of the conclave, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader also said the Congress has a "big role" going forward as it is a "well-understood brand" with many people across the country voting for the party for a long time.
Meanwhile, RJD's Manoj Jha said, "The Mumbai meeting shall come out with a clear-cut roadmap for providing a progressive alternative to the regressive policies of the current regime."
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray also slammed CM Eknath Shinde and BJP over the NITI Aayog's master plan for economic transformation of Mumbai. Uddhav said that once the INDIA and MVA alliance will come to the power they will scrap the plan. He alleged that there is a plan to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra and the Centre wants the control over Mumbai.
Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said that this was an attempt to take over Mumbai by the Centre. "This was being done to ensure that there is no state control over Mumbai and the Modi-Shah government has been trying to do this for close to 10 years. Raut said that the CM must resign over the Centre’s takeover of Mumbai.
Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana president Raju Shetti said he received a call from Congress chief Nana Patole seeking his support for the INDIA meet, but he declined to attend. "I had left MVA two years ago. Nobody from MVA talked with us. So, how can we abruptly engage in dialogue again.
He further said that if Congress and others in INDIA alliance are willing to pledge support to the demand for MSP for farm produce, they will think ahead.
Shetti ruled out an alliance with the BJP.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Shiv Sena UBT president Uddhav Thackeray at his residence Matoshree and tied a Rakhi to the former chief minister.
She is in Mumbai to attend the two-day INDIA alliance meet.
Giving further push to the Miyawaki urban forestation technique, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) launched a drive of planting 10,264 saplings at Chembur’s Sharad Narayan Acharya Park on Monday.
In its ongoing afforestation spree, the BMC is developing 14 new urban forests across various pockets of Mumbai using the Miyawaki technique. Senior civic officials said that all the 14 forests will be developed this year before Diwali. Read more
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said only when India growds, China will retreat. His party colleague Ashok Chavan, meanwhile, said ahead of the INDIA alliance meet that the Opposition parties have "come together to save the democracy and fight against BJP".
A 48-year-old scientist allegedly died by suicide by hanging himself inside his residence at the campus of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai.
The deceased, identified as Manish Sharma, had been undergoing psychological treatment for more than 20 years, said police who are yet to find the reason for his suicide. Read more
With Ganeshotsav round the corner, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has advised devotees and management of Ganesh mandals to exercise caution whil using 13 old rail overbridges, which are in a precarious condition.
Barring the Ghatkopar railway overbridge (ROB) in the eastern suburbs, all the remaining bridges are located between Dadar and CSMT in south Mumbai. Read more
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said Uddhav Thackeray should be the PM candidate of INDIA alliance.
"On the one hand, there is the BJP that, out of fear, can take just one name. If Nitin Gadkari's name comes forth mistakenly, his career is ended. On the other hand is us - six sitting CMs are coming (to the meeting), senior leaders are coming. We have worked and people are with us. We have a leadership where people can take names openly," Chaturvedi told ANI.
While BJP's national spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said the Prime Ministerial post is a dream the Opposition can never achieve, Union Minister Ashwini Choubey likened the INDIA alliance to the East India Company "established by the British to rob the country".
Echoing the stand of the party ahead of the INDIA alliance meet in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1, Aam Aadmi Party leaders Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha said they have joined the cohort not to bag a Prime Ministerial berth for Arvind Kejriwal but to save the country and create a better India.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi took a dig at Lalu Prasad YADAV and said he was not a part of the INDIA alliance out of national interest but to make his son Chief Minister after Nitish Kumar.
"Politically speaking, the public gave a reply in 2014 and 2019. You are sitting with those who filed a case against you. Lalu Yadav is not doing anything out of national interest or state interest, he is doing everything to make his son the CM after Nitish Kumar. That is why he has forged this unholy alliance," Joshi said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who has reached Mumbai to take part in the meeting of opposition parties, said a decision regarding the appointment of a national convener for the INDIA bloc will be taken on Thursday. "It will be decided tomorrow," Lalu Yadav said answering a query.
"The agenda will be to make preparations for the times ahead. Elections are approaching. If candidates have to be decided, we need to sit together," he added.
"Mumbai mein Narendra Modi ke nareti (throat) pe chadhne jaa rahe hain hum log. Narendra Modi ka nareti pakde huye hain hum, hatana hai," he said ahead of his departure from Patna.
Ahead of the third meeting of the Opposition bloc INDIA, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said, "There is no race or competition between us for anything. Nitish Kumar(Bihar Chief Minister) who has taken efforts for this alliance has also said that he doesn't expect anything. Be it as a convenor or as the face of the Prime Minister. These all slogans are raised by supporters but by the leaders. Firstly we will together face the elections, will defeat this authoritative party and then people of the country will decide the PM."
The logo for the Opposition bloc INDIA will be unveiled on September 1, the concluding day of its third meeting in Mumbai.
Police officials and MPCC president Nana Patole along with senior party leaders inspect MPCC office ahead of Rahul Gandhi's visit on September 1.