Page 19 - Devendra Fadnavis

Jarange's demand for term in Maratha quota won't pass legal test: minister

Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan on Wednesday said the demand by quota activist Maroj Jarange for the inclusion of the "sage soyare" term in the Maratha reservation notification will not withstand legal scrutiny. The term "sage soyare" in Marathi means through birth relations and relations by marriage. Speaking to the reporters in Pune, Mahajan accused the opposition of deriving political mileage from the Maratha reservation issue and asserted that it was the Devendra Fadnvais government which had granted the quota to the Maratha community without disturbing the allocation of other communities. "In the last 50 years, had anyone made efforts to give reservation to the Maratha community? (NCP-SP Chief) Sharad Pawar had even said there was no need to give reservation to Marathas," claimed the BJP leader, a confidant of Fadnavis. Mahajan noted that after the BJP-led government granted the reservation to the Maratha community, the subsequent Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government failed

After Maha CM meets Dy CMs, BJP leaders leave for review meet in Delhi

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde held a late night meeting with Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar after which some state BJP leaders left for Delhi for a review meet, sources said on Tuesday. Details of the meeting were not available. It was convened in the backdrop of the ruling Mahayuti's below par performance in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections. "CM Shinde held a meeting with Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar at his official residence 'Varsha'. After Pawar left, Shinde and Fadnavis continued the meeting for some time," a source in the BJP said on Tuesday. BJP's central leadership has called a review meeting with state leaders in connection with the party's performance in the Lok Sabha polls. "It is a routine exercise in the BJP to hold such review meetings with state leaders. (BJP leader) Fadnavis offered to resign some days back after the results were out. He had stated that he wished to work for the party full-time till the state assembly elections. This will

Genuine introspection, strategy needed to revive BJP's fortunes: Fadnavis

In the wake of the BJP's Lok Sabha tally coming down from 23 to 9 in Maharashtra, senior party leader and state Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday stressed the need for genuine introspection and a strategy to revive the saffron outfit's fortunes. Addressing a meeting of the party aimed at taking stock of the results of the Lok Sabha elections, Fadnavis claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost several seats due to polarisation. "We require a strategy and genuine introspection. Just analysis is not enough," he said. "Heavens have not fallen. We got only two lakh votes less in the state, while in Mumbai we received two lakh more votes. BJP was ahead in 130 assembly segments. But there was tremendous polarisation," the former chief minister said. There was a false narrative that the BJP would change the Constitution if voted to power. This narrative was strong in the first three phases. But we countered this narrative well after the three phases. Hence, we ...

NCP missed out for insisting on cabinet berth instead of MoS: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party wanted a cabinet berth in the Narendra Modi government and declined an offer from the BJP of minister of state (MoS) with independent charge. "We had offered one berth of minister with independent charge to the NCP but it was insistent that (Rajya Sabha MP) Praful Patel's name be finalised. Due to his (Patel's) experience, the NCP believed he could not be made MoS with independent charge," he said. "In a coalition government, a formula has to be drawn, which cannot be broken for one party. I can confidently say whenever cabinet expansion takes place, the (Union) government will consider the NCP. We did try to include NCP right now, but they insisted on cabinet portfolio," the senior BJP leader asserted. The Ajit Pawar-led NCP, part of the ruling alliance in Maharashtra along with the BJP and the Shiv Sena, performed poorly in the Lok Sabha polls, managing to win just one

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Is Team Uddhav aligning with NDA? Party says no

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena said it is going to remain with the INDIA alliance and will not switch back to the NDA

Fadnavis villain of Maha politics; indulged in political vendetta: Raut

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday hit out at senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, calling him the "villain" in Maharashtra politics, and accused him of destroying many families and resorting to political vendetta. Raut's remarks come a day after Fadnavis offered to step down from post of deputy CM after the BJP's Lok Sabha seat tally in the state came down from 23 to 9, and said he wants to work "full time" for the party ahead of the assembly elections due later this year. Raut also asserted that if Narendra Modi tries to become the prime minister for the third time "forcibly", his government will not last and that the RSS was working to look for an alternative. Talking to reporters in Delhi, the Rajya Sabha member said, "If there is any villain in Maharashtra politics, then it is Devendra Fadnavis. The BJP's drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls is due to Devendra Fadnavis." "Fadnavis has destroyed many families and resorted to politica

'Relieve me from Maharashtra Dy CM duties': Devendra Fadnavis requests BJP

Devendra Fadnavis' decision follows the BJP's poor performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra

Cong slams Fadnavis over FDI data, says Maha has always been on top

The Congress on Saturday said that Maharashtra has continuously topped the list of foreign direct investment (FDI) receivers and attacked Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over his comment that the state's ranking went down during MVA rule. Citing data from Union ministry of industries, state Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said Maharashtra got about 33 per cent of all FDI in the country between 2000 and 2012. In terms of overall FDI from October 2019 to June 2022, Maharashtra ranked first even during the tenure of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, Sawant said. The MVA government under Uddhav Thackeray fell in June 2022 after Eknath Shinde led a rebellion in Shiv Sena and joined hands with the BJP to become the chief minister. Congress is an MVA partner. Maharashtra, which lagged in attracting FDI during MVA rule, has again risen to the top position in the past two consecutive years, Fadnavis had said on Friday. You (Fadnavis) presented data from April 2021 to Marc

Chhagan Bhujbal demands 80-90 seats for NCP in upcoming Assembly polls

Maharashtra minister and senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday demanded that his party be given 80-90 seats to contest in the assembly elections due this year. BJP is the largest party and will contest in more seats, said Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Speaking at a party's meeting here, Bhujbal said, When we joined the alliance (BJP-Shiv Sena), we were assured of getting 80 to 90 seats to contest in the assembly elections. However, for this Lok Sabha polls, we got very few seats to contest. We must tell them (BJP) that we want more seats to contest so that we could win around 50 to 60 seats, he said. Of the 288 seats in the state, BJP had won 105 in 2019 state polls, while the undivided NCP had bagged 54 seats. If we get 50 seats to contest because of the current number of MLAs with the party, how many will actually get elected out of those 50, he wondered. He also expressed displeasure over reports that Manusmriti, an ancient Hindu text, will likely be taught in

Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar urge peace after Beed video suggests caste tensions

A video purportedly containing remarks against a particular community in the backdrop of tension between two caste groups in a village in Beed district has gone viral, prompting leaders of various political parties to appeal for peace. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis (BJP) and Ajit Pawar (NCP) have appealed for maintaining peace and avoiding such commentary. Beed Superintendent of Police, Nand Kumar Thakur, on Monday, rushed to Mundewadi village in Kej tehsil and held a meeting with villagers. The video clip went viral on Sunday against the backdrop of tensions between members of the Maratha and Vanjari communities. Some villagers in the video clip, which went viral on Sunday, can be heard saying that no 'Maharaj' (religious preacher) from the Maratha community should be invited to the village. Villagers also asked others not to consume liquor from a shop, while a man threatened that those violating this diktat would be penalised. "A meeting was conducted in

Fadnavis, Shah tried to work for Gadkari's defeat in LS polls, says Raut

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Amit Shah and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis worked for Nitin Gadkari's defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Raut alleged that Fadnavis had unwillingly campaigned for Gadkari, who contested from the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat, when he realised the Union minister couldn't be defeated. Nagpur is the hometown of both BJP leaders. "Modi, Shah and Fadnavis worked for Gadkari's defeat in Nagpur. Fadnavis unwillingly joined the campaign for Gadkari when he realised he couldn't be defeated. The RSS people in Nagpur are openly saying Fadnavis helped the opposition to get Gadkari defeated," he wrote in an article in his party's mouthpiece "Saamna". The Sena (UBT) leader alleged that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had distributed Rs 25-30 crore in every constituency, and his machinery worked to defeat candidates of the NCP led by Ajit Pawar. Taking a potshot at Yogi Adityanath,

Porsche crash: Why bus drivers not told to write essays, asks Rahul Gandhi

The Porsche crash incident in Pune involves a drunk minor, who killed two people with his speeding Porsche in the city's Kalyani Nagar area on pre-dawn Sunday

No pressure on Pune police over car crash probe, says Dy CM Fadnavis

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday asserted no police negligence has come to light while handling the Pune car crash involving a 17-year-old boy and denied any kind of pressure on cops probing the case. A Porsche car allegedly driven by the 17-year-old, who the police claim was drunk at the time, fatally knocked down two motorbike-borne software engineers in Kalyani Nagar in Pune city in the early hours of Sunday. The teen's father, a builder, and four persons linked to two restaurants where he was served liquor before the fatal crash have been arrested by the police. Amid an outrage over the accident, Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio, made a surprise visit to the Pune Police commissionerate to review the case, and later addressed the media. On demands from residents to advance closing time of pubs from 1.30 am now to 11 pm, Fadnavis said he has asked the police department to submit a report on the issue. Asked about the Porsche car being allowed

Only PM Modi can ensure strong Bharat; Oppn lacks coordination: Fadnavis

Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be elected for a third term for a strong and prosperous Bharat, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Tuesday as he targeted the opposition over the alleged lack of coordination with the analogy of a train. Addressing a poll rally, the senior BJP leader said the people have only two choices in this election- either to elect Modi for development or the alliance led by Rahul Gandhi. "Modiji is the power engine of our Mahayuti alliance. There is ample space for people to board this 'Vikas ki train' of Modiji with coaches of Shiv Sena, NCP, RPI and others. Other alliance doesn't have any coaches and all (constituents) claim themselves to be engines but they lack coordination," he said. He said it is up to the people to elect the right government and give a third term to Modi for a strong and prosperous Bharat. The Bhandara-Gondiya constituency goes to poll in the first phase on April 19. The BJP has fielded sitting MP Sunil Men

Situation in Vidarbha favourable, PM's meet will ensure big win: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said the situation in Vidarbha is favourable for Mahayuti and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public meeting later in the day will turn this favorability into a big win for the alliance. Talking to reporters here, Fadnavis said that the seat-sharing talks about a few seats were remaining now, and these constituencies will go to polls in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra. There is a lot of enthusiasm in Vidarbha ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public meeting in Chandrapur, he said. "The situation in Vidarbha is favourable for Mahayuti and the BJP. But with Modiji's meeting, this favourability will increase and result in a big win," Fadnavis said. The Mahayuti' (grand alliance) comprises the ruling BJP, Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and the Ajit Pawar-headed Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray met Union Home Mini

Fadnavis never opposed Eknath Khadse, claims BJP leader Bawankule

Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Sunday said state Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis never opposed veteran leader Eknath Khadse, who is set to return to the saffron party. More than three years after he ended his 40-year-old association with the BJP following differences with state leadership and crossed over to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (undivided), Khadse on Saturday said he will join his parent party next week in New Delhi. Khadse had to resign in 2016 as a minister of the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis cabinet owing to a land deal case. Once one of the tallest leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra, Khadse was relegated to the political wilderness for almost five years before Sharad Pawar rehabilitated him in NCP (undivided) in 2020. Notably, Khadse had blamed Fadnavis and his confidant Girish Mahajan for harming his political career. Talking to mediapersons in Pune, Bawankule said, "There is a central as well as state committee of ou

BJP wasn't formed to make anyone PM or CM, hence never split: Fadnavis

The Bharatiya Janata Party was not established to make anyone the prime minister or the chief minister and hence never faced an internal division, said Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday. The senior BJP claimed that theirs is the only national party in the country's history that has not experienced a split. Addressing his party workers during an event here to mark the 44th foundation day of the BJP, Fadnavis asked the cadres to work as the soldiers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make India a developed country. From leaders like Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to PM Modi, all have worked to grow the party, he said. BJP leaders were never self-centred or selfish, Fadnavis said. This party was never made for making anyone the prime minister or chief minister or any other post but was established to create an ideology that will serve the nation's interests. This party always

Veteran Cong leader Shivraj Patil's daughter-in-law joins BJP in Maha

Chakurkar had met Fadnavis at his official residence 'Sagar' in south Mumbai on Friday

Mumbai gets its first coastal road, to open for people on Tuesday

Currently the 10.5 km long road will be open for traffic only on weekdays from 8 am to 8 pm

Maharashtra CM Shinde inaugurates first phase of Mumbai coastal road

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday inaugurated the first phase of the coastal road between Worli and Marine Drive in south Mumbai and said it is an "engineering marvel". A 10.5-kilometer-long stretch will be opened for traffic in the first phase, an official earlier said, adding that motorists can enter the coastal road from Worli Seaface, Haji Ali interchange and Amarson's interchange points, and exit at Marine Lines. Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar and other dignitaries were present at the inauguration of the south-bound corridor of the coastal road. After the inauguration, CM Shinde and other dignitaries showed green flags to the electric buses of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) ferrying women and a vintage car rally on the coastal road. The work on the ambitious project started on October 13, 2018 and its projected cost is Rs 12,721 crore. A world-class Central Park spread over several acres will come up along the road, named .