News Analysis India

Tag: NCP

  • Uddhav lays foundation for Bal Thackeray memorial; BJP, MNS not invited

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray’s memorial at Dadar in central Mumbai, even as the opposition BJP and the MNS slammed the state government for not inviting their party leaders to the function.

    The event took place in the former official mayoral bungalow near Shivaji Park, where the memorial is proposed to be set up at the cost of Rs 400 crore.

    State Deputy Chief Minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar, Revenue Minister and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, among others, were present on the occasion.

    Approval for the project had been given during the tenure of previous chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is now the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly.

    However, the state government did not invite Fadnavis as well as Uddhav’s cousin and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for the event citing the spike in COVID-19 cases.

    The BJP and the MNS criticised the Shiv Sena-led dispensation over it.

    “When Fadnavis was the chief minister, he took extra efforts in getting the necessary clearances from the Centre for the memorial. Old mayor’s bungalow is a heritage site, still he helped in obtaining all kinds of nods. Hence, not inviting him to the event shows Shiv Sena’s mean treatment,” BJP’s Pravin Darekar, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, said.

    MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande said, “If several ministers and their staff can attend the event at the old mayor’s bungalow, then why not invite Raj Thackeray?” “Raj Thackeray had served in the Shiv Sena for many years. He has contributed to that party, but selectively not inviting him is not a healthy way of politics,” he said.

    In the first phase of the memorial construction, Rs 250 crore will be spent on the works like electrification and parking facility.

    The first phase is likely to be completed in 14 months.

    The Shiv Sena is in power in the state with the NCP and the Congress.

    These three parties had joined hands after the 2019 Assembly polls results to keep the BJP way from power.

  • Sanjay Raut should be careful before making comments, says Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Days after Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut suggested that NCP chief Sharad Pawar should take over as UPA chairperson, Maharashtra Revenue Minister and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat on Tuesday said Raut should be careful before making any comments.

    The Shiv Sena shares power with the Congress and NCP in Maharashtra, but it is not part of the Congress-led UPA.

    On March 20, Raut said the need of the hour is to strengthen the United Progressive Alliance so that it emerges as a strong alternative to the BJP, and Pawar should take over as UPA chairperson.

    ​ALSO READ | Had warned that Waze could create problems for Maharashtra govt: Sanjay Raut

    Talking to reporters here, Thorat said Sonia Gandhi will “remain head of the UPA for a long time”.

    Asked about Raut’s comments, the minister said, “Raut is a senior leader. He should be careful before making any comments.”

    The Shiv Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, of which Raut is executive editor, had also recently created a flutter by stating in an editorial that if Pawar became the UPA chief, it will benefit the alliance.

    Parties such as Shiv Sena and Akali Dal should also come under the UPA umbrella to take on the BJP, it had said.

    Maharashtra Congress leaders recently asked the Shiv Sena leader to desist from making such comments as his party is not even part of the UPA.

    State Congress chief Nana Patole had also asked if Raut was the spokesperson of Pawar.

  • Maharashtra: NCP fields late MLA Bharat Bhalke’s son Bhagirath in Pandharpur Assembly bypoll

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has decided to field Bhagirath Bhalke, son of late MLA and the party leader Bharat Bhalke, in the next month’s byelection to Pandharpur-Mangalvedha Assembly constituency in Maharashtra.

    The BJP has fielded former Shiv Sena leader Samadhan Autade against Bhalke for the April 17 bypoll.

    Autade quit the Sena after the 2019 state assembly elections and joined the BJP.

    Bhalke and Autade are owners of sugar mills in Solapur region.

    Farmers in the region had protested against certain sugar mills for deferring payment for the sale of sugarcane, which is one of the crucial issues in the upcoming contest.

    NCP leader and sitting MLA Bharat Bhalke had died due to COVID-19 infection.

    NCP state unit president Jayant Patil and his BJP counterpart Chandrakant Patil will attend the submission of nomination papers of the candidates of their respective parties on Tuesday.

  • Sharad Pawar in hospital after abdominal pain, to undergo surgery

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: NCP chief Sharad Pawar will undergo surgery at a hospital here after it was diagnosed that he has gall bladder issue, a minister of his party in the Maharashtra government said here on Monday.

    “Our party president Sharad Pawar saheb was feeling a little uneasy due to a pain in his abdomen last evening and was therefore taken to Breach Candy Hospital for a check-up. Upon diagnosis it came to light that he has a problem in his Gall Bladder,” Nawab Malik tweeted.

    “He is on Blood Thinning Medication which is now being stopped due to this issue. He will be admitted to the hospital on the 31st of March 2021 and an Endoscopy and Surgery will be conducted. Hence all his programmes stand cancelled until further notice,” the minister added.

    The development comes amid speculation that Pawar (80) met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a top industrialist’s residence in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

    At a press conference in New Delhi on Sunday, Shah parried a query on the purported meeting, saying everything cannot be made public.

    Malik, whose party shares power in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena and Congress, had said no such meeting took place, adding there is an attempt to create confusion by spreading such rumours.

  • All is not well in MVA? Congress leader says party may contest future polls in Maharashtra solo

    By PTI
    THANE: The Congress in Maharashtra is exploring the possibility of contesting the forthcoming elections in the state on its own, state unit president Nana Patole told the party workers on Saturday.

    Patole also said that despite the Congress being in power in the state as a constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the work of the party workers was not being done.

    Addressing a meeting of Congress workers in Bhiwandi city in Thane district, the senior Congress leader said a disciplinary action will be taken against 18 corporators of the party for defecting to the NCP.

    “They would be expelled from the party and their corporatorship would be cancelled,” he said.

    The Congress shares power in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party.

  • Anger in Maharashtra Cabinet over phone tapping: Jitendra Awhad

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: The `phone tapping’ by the intelligence department evoked angry reactions in the meeting of the Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday, housing minister Jitendra Awhad said here.

    The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

    Speaking to reporters, NCP leader Awhad alleged that then Commissioner of Intelligence Rashmi Shukla intercepted calls without permission from then Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Sitaram Kunte.

    Permission was sought for intercepting the calls of certain persons but actually the calls of some other persons were tapped, he claimed.

    Shukla was not available for comment.

    Awhad, however, said there was no discussion in the cabinet on former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh’s allegations of corruption against Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in a letter to Thackeray.

    BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday met the Union Home Secretary in Delhi and demanded a CBI probe into a purported state intelligence department report on “corruption” in police transfers in Maharashtra.

    He had also claimed to have data of telephone calls intercepted by Shukla in which names of several key police officers figure.

    “There were angry reactions in the Cabinet meeting. Nobody (from among ministers) had hand in the transfers. All the transfers took place through a proper government channel,” he said.

    As much as 90 per cent of transfers which are mentioned in the report never happened, he claimed.

    “Why is the government being defamed (then)? Why even officials are being defamed, as if they owe their posts to recommendations. Police officials should file a defamation case against Shukla,” Awhad said.

    Later he tweeted that some of the “angry” officials named by Shukla in her report on alleged transfer scam will be giving a memorandum to the state government and file a defamation case.

    Two months ago, Shukla had admitted that she made a mistake and the government “forgave” her generously, the minister further claimed.

    “How the government would know then that the report would be used two months later to target it,” Awhad asked.

  • MVA vs BJP: After saffron party, ruling coalition leaders to meet Maharashtra Governor

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A delegation of the ruling Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition in Maharashtra will meet Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday and apprise him of “facts” amid false allegations, Congress leader Nana Patole has said.

    Earlier on Wednesday, a BJP delegation led by Devendra Fadnavis met the governor.

    Patole, state Congress chief, said their delegation will be led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

    Deputy Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar too will be a part of it.

    “We will keep facts before the Governor against the backdrop of false allegations levelled against the coalition,” Patole said.

    The BJP delegation submitted a memorandum to Koshyari, urging him to seek a “status report” from the state chief secretary on the law and order situation.

    Fadnavis told reporters that they requested the Governor to seek a detailed report as chief minister Thackeray was not taking action despite “numerous scandals” coming to light over the past few days.

    Meanwhile, asked about the BJP’s “vasuli sarkar” (extortionist government) jibe, Patole hit back, saying the opposition party was “sharing its own experience”.

    “All of us know what the (previous) Fadnavis government did in Maharashtra,” he said.

    The BJP has been trying to corner the government over police official Sachin Waze’s arrest in the Ambani security scare case, businessman Manshukh Hiran’s death, corruption allegations against home minister Anil Deshmukh and a purported intelligence report on `corruption’ in police transfers.

  • Two booked for ‘defamatory’ social media comments about Pawar

    By PTI
    PUNE: Two people have been booked for allegedly making “defamatory” comments about NCP chief Sharad Pawar on social media, a Pune rural police official said on Tuesday.

    The case was registered on the complaint of an NCP worker from Baramati, he added.

    The two social media users have been charged under section 505 (2) (creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill will between classes) of the Indian Penal Code, and probe was underway, the Baramati taluka police station official informed.

  • COVID-19 violation at event attended by Ajit Pawar, NCP man booked

    By PTI
    PUNE: An NCP functionary was booked for alleged COVID-19 violations while organising a political event in Solapur, which was attended by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, police said on Monday.

    The event was held in Pandharpur on Sunday, and despite permission for just 50 attendees, the crowd for the event was much larger, an official said.

    A case was registered against Sandip Mandave, president of NCP’s Pandharpur-Mangalvedha Assembly seat, under section 188 of IPC, he added.

    The event was organised as Pandharpur is set to witness a bypoll after MLA Bharat Balke died in November last year.

  • Won’t be fair to comment as NCP chief has spoken: Congress on graft charges against Deshmukh

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday said it would not be fair on its part to comment on the controversy that erupted after ex-Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh accused Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of graft as the NCP and the chief minister are looking into it.

    Steering clear of making a direct comment on the matter, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the issue concerns Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the NCP as the minister in question is from that party.

    Attempting to deflect questions concerning Maharashtra, Singhvi raised the issue of graft charges against Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to accuse the BJP of hypocrisy and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the mater.

    He asked why the prime minister and Home Minister Amit Shah have not uttered a word about the corruption allegation against Yediyurappa, even when there have been three judgments from the high court in this regard.

    “We want Yediyurappa to resign immediately,” the Congress spokesperson said.

    On the developments in Maharashtra, he said the Maha Vikas Aghadi government is one and NCP leader Sharad Pawar is addressing charges against Deshmukh, who belongs to that party.

    “Sharad Pawar has commented on what is essentially concerning a minister from that part of the coalition. I think it would not be fair for me to say anything, much of what has been said by Pawar in consultation with the CM.”

    “But whatever has been left out, you would have to approach Maharashtra’s Congress in-charge H K Patil,” he told reporters when asked to clear his party’s stand on the issue.

    Singhvi said Patil has been requested to deal with this and he can be approached in this regard.

    “Primarily, this issue concerns the NCP and the chief minister. The Aghadi government is one. Pawar has spoken, Patil will speak tomorrow. Wait for some more time, as you have received silence on the issue of Yediyurappa,” he said.

    Asked about BJP accusing the Congress of hypocrisy for not speaking on the Maharashtra issue, Singhvi said, “Has Modi made a comment on Yediyurappa, even after three briefings by me. There has been no briefing or comments from him. Has the Home Minister (Amit Shah) even bothered to talk about Yediyurappa.”

    ALSO READ | NCP chief Sharad Pawar says Param Bir Singh’s claims serious; decision on Anil Deshmukh on Monday

    The Congress spokesperson said the leader of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition Sharad Pawar has already spoken and he will be giving a more detailed statement by tomorrow and the chief minister is already looking into it.

    “Which of these has happened with Mr Modi qua Mr Yediyurappa? He has become a ‘mauni baba’ on this issue?” Singhvi posed.

    On the BJP’s charge that Udhav Thackeray has lost the moral authority to rule, the Congress leader said, “I will agree with him after the facts come out. But till then, substitute the word Uddhav Thackeray with Yeddyurappa and just kindly put the poster back in his drawing-room. I request him to use the same sentence and put the name of Yediyurappa as there are three orders of the High Court.”

    Singhvi alleged that Yediyurappa has the guts to go to the Supreme Court to get an interim order for not being arrested and continues to “stick” to his seat.

    “We have not even heard a whisper from anybody in the BJP which gives us lectures on morality every day. The contrast is clear,” he said.

    “The hypocrisies and double-face is underlined in fact by the totally different conduct of the two parties,” he said pointing out inaction on the part of the BJP leadership on the alleged corruption charges against Yediyurappa.

    Singhvi accused the Karnataka chief minister of having crossed limits of shame and alleged that he has no morality left in holding on to the post when there are three High Court orders for trying him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

    “We cannot allow political thick-skinnedness to take us for granted. People’s indifference becomes a breeding ground for corruption and it is to shock you out of your indifference that we speak to you through the media,” he said.

    The Congress leader claimed the fear of losing power is corrupting and alleged that Yediyurappa is hanging on to the chief minister’s seat without regard to morality and political decency.

    “Is this the moral plane on which the chief minister can sit on his seat? Is this the morality of the prime minister who never asks him to leave? Is this the principal stand of the home minister who does not remove him? “Is this the Nelsonian blind eye of the party to which he belongs which will not touch him? Is this the naked, shameless lust for power that makes people stick on and parties ignore everything? This is the worst form of breeding down of corruption. It clearly exposes the unethical, unscrupulous and untrustworthy nature of the BJP,” Singhvi said.