Category: Politics

  • Must decide on CM face, need not reveal it: Uddhav Thackeray

    Continuing to put pressure on his allies, Uddhav Thackeray, who leads his own faction of the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray Sena, has asked Congress and Nationalist Congress Party Sharadchandra Pawar that the Chief Minister’s face be decided among the allies prior to the assembly elections, even if the name is not publicly announced.

    Uddhav Thackeray has communicated this to the Congress and NCP leaderships. Thackeray is attempting to push the two parties to either select a candidate for the Chief Minister’s job or simply accept his name for the position by continually bringing it up in meetings with them and reiterating it publicly.

    “I don’t want our experience with the BJP to be repeated. We had been together for 2530 years, and we agreed that the party with the most seats would become Chief Minister. By this logic, if you obtain more seats, Therefore, I will pull you down (to prevent the ally from winning) and the other party will pull me down?” Thackeray mentioned this in a combined meeting with NCPSP, Congress, and UBT Sena cadres last week.

  • Third Eye: All about eyeglasses, pink scheme of things in Maharashtra politics, and sweet moment at party office

    All about eyeglasses: When former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren reached his assembly constituency Saraikela, he was again asked by journalists about his New Delhi visit. This time he gave a new answer. He said his eyeglasses were broken and on the advice of his grandson living in New Delhi he went to the national capital to get them repaired. The media persons were speechless after this response.

    When former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren reached his assembly constituency Saraikela, he was again asked by journalists about his New Delhi visit. This time he gave a new answer. He said his eyeglasses were broken and on the advice of his grandson living in New Delhi he went to the national capital to get them repaired. The media persons were speechless after this response.

    When former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren reached his assembly constituency Saraikela, he was again asked by journalists about his New Delhi visit. This time he gave a new answer. He said his eyeglasses were broken and on the advice of his grandson living in New Delhi he went to the national capital to get them repaired. The media persons were speechless after this response.Pink scheme of things in Maharashtra politicsMaharashtra’s deputy CM Ajit Pawar recently said that he had no plans to contest from Baramati assembly seat and hinted that NCP may field his younger son Jay from the constituency. Sanjay Raut of Shiv SenaUBT has, however, rubbed it in. Referring to Pawar’s attempt to woo women voters by adopting pink color in his campaign, Raut called Pawar a ‘chameleon’. The word play was meant to convey that Pawar switched sides by joining BJP. Raut added that no ‘pinkish’ party has ever prospered. He cited the case of former Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao, who had changed his party’s color to pink.

    office party

    Former IPS officer and now BJP member, Bharati Ghosh, won many hearts during her visit to the party headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday. She tied rakhi and offered sweets to journalists and staff members. Ghosh, once a favorite officer of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, is highly agitated over the rapemurder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata and wants severest action against the culprits.

  • Kharge, Rahul Gandhi to visit pollbound Jammu and Kashmir on August 2122

    Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi are scheduled to visit Jammu and Srinagar on August 2122 and are likely to meet some INDIA bloc leaders for possible prepoll alliances.

    The visit assumes significance as both Congress and National Conference (NC) have expressed inclination for a strategic ‘prepoll alliance’, especially in Jammu division, where the BJP is claiming that it will get a majority of the seats.

    NC leader and former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah recently said that they were in touch with the Congress top leadership and the newlyappointed J&K Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra is also on record saying that they were open to talks with “likeminded parties” to weave a “respectable alliance” ahead of the assembly polls. Kharge and Rahul Gandhi will arrive in Jammu on August 21 and after holding some meetings there, will fly to Srinagar the same evening.

  • Jammu and Kashmir polls: PDP names Iltija Mufti as Bijbehara assembly constituency incharge

    People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti was on Monday named as the constituency incharge for the Bijbehara assembly seat in Jammu and Kashmir as the party nominated leaders for various segments a day ahead of the start of the poll process.

    The party nominated constituency incharges for eight assembly segments seven in south Kashmir and ChrareShareef in central Kashmir’s Budgam.

    The party named Iltija Mufti, who is also Mehbooba’s media advisor, from the Bijbehara assembly constituency a seat from where her mother had also made her electoral debut in 1996.The seat is considered a stronghold of the Mufti family.

    The party also named Abdul Rehman Veeri from Anantnag East, Sartaj Ahmad Madani from Devsar, Mehboob Beg from Anantnag, Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura from ChrareShareef, Ghulam Mohiuddin Wani from Watchi and Rafiq Ahmad Naik from Tral.

    PDP youth leader Waheedur Rehman Parra has been nominated as the constituency incharge from south Kashmir’s Pulwama seat. Parra unsuccessfully contested the recent parliamentary polls.The notification for the first phase of the threephased assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir would be issued on Tuesday.In the first phase, 16 seats in the valley and eight from the Jammu region will go to polls on September 18.

    The Election Commission earlier on Friday announced the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1, and the votes will be counted on October 4.

  • Third eye: Drunk BJP MLA accosts Pankaja; sensitivity by Kiwis appreciated & it’s time for consultants

    Sensitivity by Kiwis appreciated: During President Droupadi Murmu’s recent visit to New Zealand, the authorities ensured that Khalistani activists were not found protesting close to the venue of an event attended by her. While protests were allowed, the activists were kept at a distance. The sensitivity shown by the Kiwis has been appreciated by New Delhi.It’s time for consultants: Maharashtra chief minister and deputy chief minister have hired two different election strategists to manage their affairs ahead of elections. While CM Eknath Shinde has hired Showtime Consulting led by Robbin Sharma, deputy CM Ajit Pawar has hired Naresh Aroraled Designboxed, which had earlier handled Ashok Gehlot’s campaign. Sharma had handled the election campaign of N Chandrababu Naidu too.Drunk BJP MLA accosts Pankaja: BJP leader Pankaja Munde and her cousin Dhananjay Munde (NCP) were recently accosted by a highly drunk BJP MLA at an event. While Munde initially shared a laugh with him as a courtesy, she moved away after she realized how drunk he was. Later, she told Dhananjay that the MLA was so drunk that she could not bear to stand near him due to the stench and felt pukish. Munde’s reaction and videos of the incident have gone viral, embarrassing BJP just a few months before polls.

  • Chandrababu Naidu in Delhi to push for early work on budget promises

    New Delhi: Within a week of the Union Budget being passed in Parliament, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is on a twoday visit to Delhi to push for early implementation of the promises made to his state in the Budget.

    Naidu met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday. Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party (TDP) provides the vital numerical support of 16 MPs to National Democratic Alliance (NDA), is expected to raise the issue of Central support for Polavaram irrigation project and development of Amravati as state capital.

    Naidu met Jal Shakti minister CR Patil on Saturday to discuss Polavaram project. Naidu also visited the civil aviation ministry to take stock of the various airports under developments and improvement of air connectivity in Andhra Pradesh. Cabinet minister Ram Mohan Naidu posted on microblogging site The Ministry of Civil Aviation is committed to supporting and cooperating in Andhra Pradesh’s growth story. Special thanks to @ncbn garu for his presence at the ministry and for his valuable administrative inputs on how to make full use of air connectivity in the state. potential of Civil Aviation for the growth of our country.”

  • jammu kashmir election news: ET Graphics: Haryana, JammuKashmir elections in a nutshell

    et bAssembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir’s 90 constituencies will be held in three phases from September 18 while singlephase polls in Haryana will be held on October 1. Results for both the assemblies will be out on October 4.

    Haryana Voting on Oct 1 Let’s talk numbers What happened in the past?3Phase JK Polls From Sept 18 Key stats, 2014 elections

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  • Ajit Pawar likely to field son Jay from Baramati seat against Yugendra Pawar

    With Maharashtra assembly elections just months away, it is likely going to be a battle between two third generation Pawar family members for the Baramati constituency.

    Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar hinted that he is not keen on contesting the assembly elections from Baramati and would have his younger son Jay contest the election. “I have already won it seven to eight times from the constituency (Baramati), I am not too keen now,” said Ajit Pawar on Thursday.

    In such a scenario, it would be an interesting contest as Yugendra Pawar from the Sharad Pawar camp is likely to take on Jay. Yugendra is the grandson of Sharad Pawar and son of Ajit’s brother Shrinivas Pawar.He also said that it was for his party to decide whether his son would contest in his place from Baramati. “Party workers and the parliamentary board would decide on that. Whoever’s name is chosen, we (party leadership) will do that,” said Ajit. The move to field Jay is a change in strategy to deal with the challenge faced from the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP. The Sharad Pawar faction has projected Yugendra as the young face who is being projected as more approachable and who could develop Baramati more.

    While Ajit may not contest from Baramati, he is looking to contest from other assembly consThe Sharad Pawar camp is already in action over the possibility of Jay contesting from Baramati. Rohit Pawar, an MLA from KarjatJamkhed and grandnephew of Sharad Pawar, said that there was a possibility that Ajit was being pressurized by the BJP to contest against him after leaving Baramati.

    “The same experiment that was done in the Baramati Lok Sabha (when Sunetra contested against Supriya Sule) may be replicated in the assembly polls. Same pressure is being put on him to contest in Karjatjamkhed against me,” claimed Rohit Pawar.

  • supriya sule: Third eye: Sule’s influence, Assam’s RS aspirants, and Fadnavis’ unique record

    Sule’s CharmMany opposition MPs see NCP MP Supriya Sule as the goto person for issues to be raised in Parliament. She enjoys warm relations and good equations with her Lok Sabha colleagues across party lines. Sule enjoys warm relations with DMK MP Kanimozhi, SP MP Dimple Yadav, TMC MP Saugata Roy, TDP MP Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu and several BJP MPs, including Union ministers. Many times, the Speaker’s office seeks her views on ending the logjam between ruling and opposition sides.Musical ChairsThere are 10 aspirants for the two vacant RS seats in Assam that fell vacant after Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s election from the Dibrugarh LS seat and RS MP Kamakhya. Tassa relinquishing his seat after he was elected from Kaziranga in the recent LS polls. Former Union minister Rameshwar Teli, who was denied ticket from Dibrugarh, is eyeing the seat. Former MPs Rajdeep Roy and Topon Gogoi are also keeping their hopes high. BJP is sure to wrest both the seats along with its allies.Record of SortsWhen Devendra Fadnavis’ attempt to form a government with Ajit Pawar failed in 2019 within 48 hours, the opposition poked fun at Fadnavis for running the shortest government ever. Two years down the line, Fadnavis turned this into a fun fact, stating at an event, that said no one could break his and Ajit’s record of having the shortest government. Fadnavis added that the duo has another ‘unbeatable’ record: Fadnavis became a chief minister, then opposition leader and then deputy chief minister all in a single term; and Ajit became deputy CM, then opposition leader and then again a deputy CM in a single term.

  • Third Eye: From new Parliament entry issues to seed papers at Amrit Udyan

    No Pass, No EntryFormer parliamentarians are not allowed to enter the new Parliament using their Icard. A pass, issued at the reception, is a must to enter the building and this has irked several former MPs from BJP and other parties. In the previous Parliament, now rechristened as ‘Samvidhan Sadan’, former parliamentarians never needed a pass to gain entry, their Icard was more than enough.Messaging via MovieMaharashtra’s politicians have now taken to moviemaking to hit out at their opponents. After a sequel on the late Anand Dighe, CM Eknath Shinde’s mentor, Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena (UBT) has declared that he will make a new movie and name it “Namak Haram Part II”. Incidentally, Sena (UBT) has labeled Shinde and his faction ‘namak haram’ (backstabber) and traitors. Seed Papers at Amrit UdyanAstone abacus, sound pipe and music wall are among the key attractions in the famed Amrit Udyan inside Rashtrapati Bhavan, which will open for public viewing from Friday. Visitors to Amrit Udyan will also be given ‘seed papers’ — a unique and ecofriendly memento — infused with seeds of Tulsi plant, a senior official said. President Murmu will inaugurate Amrit Udyan on Wednesday and the garden will remain open for the public from Friday till September 15, from 10 am to 6 pm.