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Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar on Tuesday assumed her ministerial duties at the state secretariat Mantralaya, 13 days after the death of her husband and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar. She was accompanied by senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders and her elder son Parth Pawar as she took her seat in the deputy CM's office, marking a poignant transition in the state's leadership. NCP leaders Praful Patel, Sunil Tatkare, Chhagan Bhujbal and Dhananjay Munde were among those present. Sunetra Pawar will attend the cabinet meeting scheduled on Tuesday, the first to be held since Ajit Pawar's death. She will also participate in the business advisory committee meeting for the February 23 budget session. NCP leader Ajit Pawar was killed in a plane crash at Baramati in Pune district on January 28. Sunetra Pawar took oath as the state's first woman deputy CM on January 31. She has been given the charge of the exicse, sports, minority welfare and Aukaf departments and also ..
The BJP-led Mahayuti swept the Zilla Parishad and panchayat samiti polls in Maharashtra, results of which were declared on Monday, continuing the winning streak that started with the stellar performance in the 2024 assembly polls. The Mahayuti won 552 of 731 ZP seats and more than 1000 of the 1462 panchayat samiti seats, the State Election Commission said. In the ruling Mahayuti, the BJP led with 225 ZP seats, followed by 165 for the Nationalist Congress Party and 162 for the Shiv Sena. In the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, the Congress emerged on top with 55 ZP seats, followed by 43 for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and 26 for Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP). The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena won a seat each in Latur and Ratnagiri. Independents won 20 seats, unrecognised parties registered with the SEC got 14 and parties registered with SEC won seven. NCP won the Pune ZP getting 51 of 73 seats. The NCP and NCP (SP) had contested on the 'clock' symbol, the elections taking place ju
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator Manjusha Nagpure was elected unopposed as mayor of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Monday, while RPI (A) leader Parshuram Wadekar became deputy mayor. NCP's Shital Sawant and Congress leader Ashwini Landge withdrew from the mayoral contest, while NCP corporator Dattatray Bahirat and Congress's Sahil Kedari pulled out of the deputy mayoral race, paving the way for unopposed elections. Nagpure, a corporator from the Sinhagad area, has been closely associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. She holds a postgraduate degree in management. RPI (A) leader Wadekar, who contested last month's civic polls on a ticket of ally BJP from the Bopodi area, had filed his nomination for the post of deputy mayor. In the 165-member PMC, the BJP won 119 seats, while Ajit Pawar's NCP and Sharad Pawar-headed NCP(SP) together secured 30 seats. The Congress won 15 seats, and its ally Shiv Sena (UBT) managed just one. Union Minister and Pune Lok Sabha M
Mahindra Group on Friday said it will invest Rs 15,000 crore in Maharashtra over the next ten years, which includes setting up an automobile and tractor manufacturing facility in Nagpur. In addition, Mahindra will acquire land in the Igatpuri-Nashik region to expand current product and engine capacities, as well as to support the growth of its Advanced Technology business, the statement said. The Nagpur facility, which will be the group's largest integrated manufacturing facility for automobiles and tractors, will start production in 2028, the group said in a statement. "With these initiatives, Mahindra is committing a comprehensive investment of Rs 15,000 crore over a ten-year period in Maharashtra and will acquire over 2,000 acres across three locations to further strengthen its manufacturing footprint," it added. Once fully operational, the facility will have an annual production capacity of over 5 lakh vehicles and 1 lakh tractors, making it Mahindra's largest integrated ...
A technical snag was detected in a helicopter hours before it was scheduled to transport Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde for campaigning for the Zilla Parishad polls in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, an airport official said on Tuesday. The snag was found late on Monday night hours before the BJP leader was to fly to Latur, he said. According to officials, Munde arrived in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on a chartered plane on Monday and took the helicopter for poll campaigning later in the day. However, when the aviation company conducted a routine inspection later that night, they found some technical issues with the chopper and informed the authorities at the Chikalthana airport, they said. The chopper was scheduled to transport the BJP leader to Latur around 11 am on Tuesday, but her journey was delayed by two hours, the official said. Talking to reporters, Munde said that the helicopter was old, but she didn't raise the issue and continued her travel. She said ever since NCP leade
The family of one of the two engineers killed in the 2024 Pune Porsche accident has expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court granting bail to three accused of aiding the tampering of blood samples after the incident, saying it sends a wrong message to society. The case relates to the incident on May 19, 2024, when a Porsche car allegedly driven by a 17-year-old boy under the influence of alcohol fatally knocked down two IT professionals -- Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta -- in Pune's Kalyani Nagar area. The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Amar Santish Gaikwad (alleged middleman), Aditya Avinash Sood and Ashish Satish Mittal (parents of two other juveniles in the car), while observing that parents are to be blamed for such incidents involving juveniles as they don't have control over their children. Sood and Mittal are accused of conspiracy to replace the blood samples of their children. Mittal is a friend of the main accused's father, while Sood is the father of th
NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar left for Mumbai from Baramati on Sunday morning, four days after the air crash that claimed the life of his nephew and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. NCP leader Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar, who took oath as deputy CM in Mumbai on Saturday, returned to Baramati in Pune, the hometown of the Pawars, late at night. It was unclear whether Sharad Pawar and Sunetra Pawar met or spoke over the phone amid the latest political developments and talks about the merger of the two NCP factions. Sharad Pawar has no scheduled programmes in Mumbai. His daughter and Baramati Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule left for Delhi on Saturday to attend the budget session. The NCP (SP) chief on Saturday claimed that he had "no idea" about the swearing-in of Sunetra Pawar as deputy chief minister, and said his late nephew had finalised February 12 to announce a merger between the NCP factions. He also said the process to merge the NCP (SP) and NCP may now face
NCP (SP) Maharashtra president Shashikant Shinde has claimed his party chief Sharad Pawar and other leaders had no prior knowledge about NCP leader Sunetra Pawar's swearing-in as the state's Deputy Chief Minister. He also said that after the recent civic elections in the state, a decision was made to pursue the unification of the two parties. Sunetra Pawar (62), wife of Ajit Pawar who died in a plane crash in Pune's Baramati town on January 28, was on Saturday sworn in as the first woman deputy CM of Maharashtra. Sharad Pawar did not have prior knowledge about her swearing-in, Shinde told reporters on Saturday. "There had been discussions and meetings on the two NCPs coming together. But Ajitdada is no more. Some broad positions had been discussed earlier. Now, we will discuss what needs to be done and then make a decision. How others respond is their call," he said. On questions over the apparent haste in conducting Sunetra Pawar's swearing-in ceremony, Shinde said the answers sh
Rajya Sabha member Sunetra Pawar was unanimously elected as the leader of the NCP legislature party in Maharashtra on Saturday, three days after the death of her husband and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. She is set to take oath as the first woman Deputy Chief Minister of the state later in the day. Sunetra Pawar's name as the NCP's legislature party leader was proposed by senior leader Dilip Walse Patil and seconded by Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal. She was elected during a meeting of the party's legislature wing, held at the office of late Ajit Pawar on the ground floor of the Vidhan Bhavan complex in south Mumbai. Ajit Pawar, who was deputy chief minister and finance minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government, was killed in a plane crash in Baramati along with four others on January 28. Sunetra Pawar paid floral tributes to a portrait of her late husband in the meeting hall. Their younger son Jay was also present. Many ministers and legisla
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday extended his best wishes to Sunetra Pawar, who became the first woman deputy chief minister of Maharashtra. "Best wishes to Sunetra Pawar Ji as she begins her tenure as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, the first woman to hold this responsibility," Modi said in a post on X. "I am confident she will work tirelessly for the welfare of the people of the state and fulfil the vision of the late Ajitdada Pawar," the prime minister said. Ajit Pawar died in an air crash in Baramati on January 28. He was the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra and the NCP president. On Saturday, Sunetra Pawar was elected as the leader of the NCP Legislature Party. She was administered an oath of office and secrecy as a minister by Governor Acharya Devvrat and was designated the deputy chief minister.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has arrested a couple and their associate, who allegedly swindled more than 11,000 investors, including police officials, from across Maharashtra of over Rs 500 crore, police said on Saturday. In a coordinated action, the Thane police's EOW tracked down the accused, Sameer Narvekar, his wife Neha, and their associate Amit Palaw, in neighbouring Gujarat on Thursday, an official said. According to police, the accused established an investment company, Trade with Jazz, with its headquarters in Pune in 2019, offering a scheme that allegedly drew in more than 11,000 people, including 1,500 police personnel, from across Maharashtra. The trio allegedly lured victims with promises of a 4 per cent monthly return on stock market trading and allied ventures, the official said, adding that the firm projected monthly earnings of nearly 10 per cent to build credibility. The company abruptly shut its offices and stopped responding to investors, prompting a flood o
Indian Navy has been adjudged the best marching contingent among the three wings of the armed forces at this year's Republic Day Parade, officials said on Wednesday. Maharashtra won the top prize in the category of states and Union Territories for its tableau showcasing Ganeshotsav, while the culture ministry's tableau celebrating the 150-year legacy of 'Vande Mataram' emerged as the winner in the ministries and departments category. The Navy's marching contingent comprised 144 young personnel marching shoulder-to-shoulder on the historic Kartavya Path, symbolising it as a progressive and strong maritime force, Navy officials said. The Navy's marching contingent won the top prize in the best marching contingent among the three services, while Delhi Police's contingent was adjudged the best marching contingent among Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and other auxiliary forces, they said. In the state and Union Territories tableau category, Jammu and Kashmir won the second prize, .
