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Tag: Devendra Fadnavis

  • ‘Ups and downs part of democracy’: Fadnavis says BJP will come to power in Maharashtra again

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said ups and downs are part of democracy and hoped the BJP would get another opportunity to form its government in Maharashtra again.

    Addressing a gathering of Mathadi workers in Navi Mumbai to commemorate the 88th birth anniversary of labour leader late Annasaheb Patil, the former chief minister called for a speedy resolution of issues concerning head-loaders.

    “We will again get an opportunity to come to power. Ups and downs are part of democracy, ” he said.

    Fadanvis said the issues of Mathadi workers would have been resolved had his government got more time.

    ​ALSO READ | RS bypoll: Maharashtra Congress leaders urge Fadnavis to withdraw BJP candidate

    The Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government came to power after the Assembly polls in October 2019.

    “Now, this government has the opportunity to resolve the problems of Mathadi workers. I am confident that the issues will be resolved. Even if the issues are not resolved. We will get another opportunity (to solve them). But that is not an issue,” the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly said, adding that all parties should try to work for the cause of Mathadi workers without bringing politics.

    Union Labour and Employment Minister Bhupender Yadav and several other Mathadi leaders, along with BJP leaders from Navi Mumbai, were present at the function.

    Fadnavis requested the Union minister to resolve the issue related to exemptions granted under section 194C of the Income Tax Act, which is not addressed in the new IT portal.

  • RS bypoll: Maharashtra Congress leaders urge Fadnavis to withdraw BJP candidate

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole and state Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat met Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday to urge the opposition BJP to withdraw its candidate and ensure the Congress nominee gets elected unopposed in the next month’s bpoll to a Rajya Sabha seat from the state.

    The by-election was necessitated due to the death of sitting Congress MP Rajiv Satav in May this year.

    The Congress, which shares power with the Shiv Sena and NCP in Maharashtra, has fielded Rajni Patil, while the BJP has nominated Sanjay Upadhyay for the bypoll, to be held on October 4,.

    “Thorat and Patole met Fadnavis to persuade the BJP to withdraw its candidate and facilitate unopposed win of the Congress candidate,” a Congress source said.

    The scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on Thursday and the last date of withdrawal is September 27.

    Voting, if neccessary, will be on October 4 and counting of votes will be done the same day.

    The 288-member Maharashtra Assembly forms the electoral college for the poll.

    The BJP has the highest 106 MLAs in the House, followed by Shiv Sena (56), NCP (53), Congress (43), Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (3), Samajwadi Party (2), AIMIM (2), Prahar Janshakti Party (2), MNS (1), CPM (1), Swambhimani Party (1), Rashtriya Samaj Paksh (1), Krantikari Shetkari Party (1), Peasants and Workers Party (1), Jansurajya Shakti Party (1) and Independents 13.

    One seat is lying vacant since the death of Congress MLA Raosaheb Antapurkar in April this year.

  • Time has come to unearth corruption of erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis govt: Congress

    Responding to a query, the Congress leader said the MVA government of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress will last its full term and BJP #39;s dream of returning to power will never come true.

  • Devendra Fadnavis to take stock of BJP preparations for Goa polls from September 20

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Senior BJP leaders, including newly-appointed Goa election in-charge Devendra Fadnavis, will visit the coastal state on September 20 during which they will discuss the party’s strategy for the Assembly polls due early next year, a party spokesman said on Sunday.

    Union Minister for Culture and Tourism G Kishan Reddy and Minister of State for Railways and Textiles Darshana Jardosh, both co-in charges for the Goa polls, and BJP’s Goa desk in-charge CT Ravi, will also visit the state over the next two days.

    “The senior leaders will take stock of the overall situation in the run-up to the Assembly elections, slated to be held in the next 3-4 months,” the spokesman told reporters.

    During their two-day visit, the team of BJP leaders will hold discussions with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, cabinet ministers, party MLAs, leaders, office-bearers and activists.

    “The team will also hold separate discussions with various committees of the BJP including women’s wing, the youth wing, minorities cell, and OBC cell and guide booth-level workers,” he said.

    The BJP spokesman said Fadnavis had successfully led Maharashtra as chief minister.

    “He had played a key role as party’s in-charge for the Bihar assembly elections. His vast experience will prove useful for BJP in Goa,” he added.

    In the 2017 Assembly elections in Goa, Congress won the highest 17 seats in the 40-member House restricting the BJP to 13.

    Surprising the Congress, the saffron party allied with regional parties and came to power under the leadership of senior leader Manohar Parrikar, now deceased.

    The Aam Aadmi Party has already thrown its hat in the ring ahead of the polls, with the party’s national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal announcing free power up to 300 units per month if his party is voted to power during his recent visit to Panaji.

    Incidentally, Kejriwal will also visit Goa on September 20, an AAP functionary said.

  • Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP team to visit Goa on September 20 to discuss poll strategy

    By PTI

    PANAJI: Senior BJP leaders, including former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, would be arriving in Goa on September 20 to discuss the ruling party’s strategy for the 2022 Assembly elections, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Tuesday.

    Fadnavis, who will be leading a BJP team, has been appointed the election in-charge of Goa, where polls are slated in early 2022. Sawant told mediapersons here that he met Fadnavis in Mumbai earlier in the day. Union Minister for Culture and Tourism G Kishan Reddy and Minister of State for Railways and Textiles Darshana Jardosh have been appointed as co-incharge for the state polls.

    Sawant said the team, comprising Fadnavis, Reddy and Jardosh, would be arriving in the state on September 20 to decide the BJP’s strategy for the elections. Fadnavis’ vast experience in handling elections will be beneficial for the BJP in Goa, he said.

    Last year, the BJP had appointed the former Maharashtra CM as its in-charge for the Bihar assembly elections.

    Sawant said that during his visit to Gujarat on Monday to participate in the swearing-in ceremony of new chief minister Bhupendra Patel, he met Union Home Minister Amit Shah. “We discussed the political situation in Goa,” he said.

  • BJP appoints Devendra Fadnavis as in-charge of Goa election

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Ahead of the scheduled Goa state Assembly elections next year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday appointed former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as the election in-charge for the state, a party statement confirmed.

    Further, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy and MP Darshana Jardosh have been appointed as the co-in-charge for the Assembly elections in the state.

    Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been appointed as the election in-charge for Uttar Pradesh, while Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pralhad Joshi has been appointed in charge of Uttarakhand.

    For the Assembly polls scheduled in Punjab, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has been appointed as the election in-charge for the state, while Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and Meenakshi Lekhi has been appointed as co-in-charges.

    Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav has been given charge of the upcoming Assembly elections in Manipur.

    Meanwhile, Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik and Assam Minister Ashok Singhal have been appointed as the co-in-charges for the same.

    Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Punjab Assembly elections are scheduled to take place next year. 

  • Anil Deshmukh should join investigation in ED case: Devendra Fadnavis

    By PTI

    NAGPUR: Maharashtra BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said as per law former home minister Anil Deshmukh should join investigation in an ED case registered against him.

    Speaking to reporters at the Nagpur airport, Fadnavis said he has come to know from media reports that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a lookout notice against NCP leader Deshmukh in connection with a money laundering case.

    “The matter has travelled through the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court. Now, as per the law it would be appropriate that he (Deshmukh) appears for investigation,” the Leader of Opposition in the assembly said.

    The ED matter stems from a corruption case filed against Deshmukh and others by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

    The financial probe agency has issued multiple summons to the NCP leader to appear before it.

    Asked about the arrest of Karuna Sharma, who claims to be the second wife of Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde, for allegedly attacking a man and hurling casteist abuses at a woman in Beed district on Sunday, Fadnavis said a detailed inquiry should be conducted in this regard.

    “Video of a pistol being kept (allegedly in Sharma’s car) and its recovery afterwards is a serious issue. A detailed investigation without any pressure should be conducted,” the former CM added.

  • No polls should be held until OBC data is collected: Devendra Fadnavis

    By PTI

    MUMBAI: Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said elections to local governing bodies in the state should be postponed till empirical data on the OBC population is not available.

    The BJP leader was speaking to reporters after attending an all-party meeting called by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on the issue.

    The Supreme Court earlier this year quashed quota for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local bodies in Maharashtra after observing that the total reservation should not exceed 50 per cent.

    The state backward class commission should put together empirical data about the OBCs in the next three or four months.

    Till then, no local governing body election should be held.

    All parties have agreed on this,” Fadnavis said.

    Even after data is collected and OBC reservation is restored, there would be an issue in three districts for which a separate policy decision should be taken, the former chief minister said.

    If no decision is taken, there will be no reserved OBC constituency in these three districts, Fadnavis said.

    Asked about the backward class commission seeking Rs 437 crore, the BJP leader said, “The commission does not need such a huge amount immediately.

    Whatever they need now, should be given by the state government.

    Surprisingly, what I am telling the state government is not different from what the Supreme Court had asked it to do.

    There has been a huge delay in restoring the OBC quota,” Fadnavis claimed.

    On Congress MLA Naseem Khan’s demand to include those who migrated to Maharashtra decades ago in OBC quota, he said, “Once the community to which such people belong is included in the state OBC list, then quota can be given.

    ” Chandrashekhar Bavankule, another BJP leader, alleged that the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government was dragging its feet on the issue of restoration of OBC quota as a strong lobby within the government was against it.

    “Those who played a crucial role in the formation of this government are now trying to delay the process. They want to keep local governing bodies under their control, the former minister alleged and warned of an agitation on the issue.

  • NCP’s Supriya Sule downplays Thackeray -Fadnavis meet, says MVA will rule for 25 years 

    By PTI

    NAGPUR: NCP Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule on Saturday said she would welcome the meeting between Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis if it was happening “by putting aside political ideologies”.

    Thackeray and Fadnavis met at the former’s chamber for around 20 minutes on Friday after an all-party meeting that was convened by the CM in Mumbai to discuss the OBC quota issue.

    Queried by reporters on the meeting and whether it signaled a “patch up” between the former allies, Sule, who is here on a two-day visit, said, “If you leave (aside) ideology and have a good relationship with each other, I would welcome such meetings that happen by putting aside political ideologies.”

    Answering another question, the Baramati MP said while the local area development funds of parliamentarians were on hold amid the coronavirus outbreak as per a decision by the Union government, legislators in Maharashtra were receiving these funds.

    This just meant the financial condition of Maharashtra was better than that of the Centre, Sule said, adding that she believed the Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress, would rule the state for another 25 years.

    Sule also hit out at the Narendra Modi government for “misusing” probe agencies like the Enforcement Directorate to target opposition leaders.

    “I have never seen such misuse of power in my lifetime,” Sule claimed.

  • Devendra Fadnavis slams Maharashtra govt for using police force against Union Minister Narayan Rane

    By ANI

    MUMBAI: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday slammed the Maharashtra government for using the police to suppress the Opposition in the state.

    Fadnavis’ statement came in the wake of FIRs registered against Union Minister Narayan Rane for his alleged derogatory remarks against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

    “We do not support Narayan Rane’s statements. But looking at the way the government is using police force to act in a lawless manner, we will support Rane as an individual and the whole party is with him,” he stated.

    Fadnavis further said, “Two FIRs have been registered against Rane and a whole team is going to arrest him. Where was this police when Bharat Mata was abused,” he said.

    He added, “Sharijil Usmani abused Bharat Mata but no FIR was registered against him but you (state govt) filed FIR against Narayan Rane.”

    The BJP leader also warned Shiv Sena leaders against pelting stones at the party office. “We do not act like hooligans. But if our party office is attacked in the presence of police, we are capable of protecting ourselves,” he said.

    “This is ‘police jivi’ government. It is state-sponsored violence just like in Bengal,” he added.

    Fadnavis further said that BJP will continue with the Jan Ashirwad Yatra even if Rane is arrested.

    Meanwhile, the police have registered a case against Narayan Rane under sections 500, 505 (2), 153B (1)c of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).