Maharashtra
After Backing Mahayuti In Lok Sabha Polls, Raj Thackeray’s MNS To Go Solo In Maharashtra Elections
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray, who has announced his support for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance, has decided that his party will contest the upcoming state Assembly election alone, according to reports.
Rumor has it that his party may field candidates in over 225 assembly seats. The Maharashtra assembly has a strength of 288 members.
According to an India Today report, Raj Thackeray did not like some of the schemes announced by the CM Eknath Shinde government, such as Ladli Behna and Ladla Bhai. Under these schemes, cash has been promised to women and youth.
The ruling Mahayuti alliance, comprising BJP, Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP, hasn’t finalized seat sharing for the upcoming assembly elections.
The negotiations are expected to be intense, with each party striving for the maximum number of seats. Shinde’s Shiv Sena aims to contest 126 out of the 288 seats, but sources told India Today TV that they are unwilling to accept fewer than 100. Meanwhile, the BJP is targeting 150 seats.
According to India Today, Ajit Pawar recently met with Home Minister Amit Shah and requested 80–90 seats for the NCP. During the brief meeting, Ajit Pawar emphasised the need to finalise seat distribution promptly to avoid last-minute decisions, as happened in the Lok Sabha elections.
Ajit Pawar is keen to contest in 54 seats the unified NCP won in the 2019 Assembly elections. Additionally, he aims to contest 20 seats against Congress in the western Maharashtra, Marathwada, and Northern Maharashtra (Khandesh) regions, as per reports.
The Deputy Chief Minister is also interested in contesting 4–5 seats in Mumbai, where the minority community is dominant, against Congress.
Maharashtra
Delhi HC to pronounce today verdict on anticipatory bail plea of ex-IAS trainee officer Puja Khedkar
New Delhi, Dec 23: The Delhi High Court is slated to deliver on Monday its judgment on anticipatory bail plea of sacked Maharashtra cadre probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar, who allegedly submitted false OBC and PwBD (Persons with Benchmark Disabilities) certificates and fraudulently availed attempts beyond the permissible limits provided for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) by faking her identity.
As per the causelist published on the website of the Delhi HC, a bench of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh will pronounce its verdict on December 23.
Earlier on November 28, Justice Singh-led Bench reserved its decision after hearing both sides. It was then clarified that till the judgment is delivered, the interim relief granted earlier to Puja Khedkar shielding her from arrest will continue.
Asking Khedkar to cooperate with the investigation, the Delhi High Court, in an interim order passed on August 12, granted her protection from arrest.
Earlier, a court here had turned down her anticipatory bail plea and asked the investigating agency to find out if anyone from inside the UPSC had helped Khedkar.
Widening the scope of the probe, Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala had asked Delhi Police to investigate if other people recommended by the UPSC have availed quota benefits without entitlement.
The Centre, on September 7, sacked Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) with immediate effect, a month after the UPSC cancelled her selection in government service. Khedkar has been found guilty of faking and wrongly availing OBC and disability quota benefits.
After cancelling her selection, the UPSC also barred her for life from taking the entrance exam after finding her guilty of faking her identity to take the exam multiple times.
In a status report submitted to the Delhi High Court, Delhi Police had contended that former Maharashtra cadre probationary IAS officer Khedkar had submitted two separate disability certificates for her UPSC exam. The disability certificates dated 2018 and 2021 citing ‘multiple disabilities’ were purportedly issued by the Ahmednagar District Civil Hospital for her UPSC attempts made in 2022 and 2023.
However, as per Delhi Police’s status report, the hospital authorities had denied that the certificates claiming ‘multiple disabilities’ were issued to her by them. It was found that Khedkar availed relaxed criteria for OBC candidates and persons with disabilities.
It then came to light that her father, a former Maharashtra government officer, had property to the tune of Rs 40 crore and that she did not qualify for the non-creamy layer OBC quota.
The UPSC had said that its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) “could not detect her number of attempts primarily because she changed not only her name but also her parents’ names”.
The Delhi High Court also issued notice to Khedkar on an application filed by the UPSC alleging that she committed perjury by swearing a false affidavit and making a false statement in relation to her anticipatory bail plea.
In its application, the UPSC disputed that it did not collect any biometrics (eyes and fingerprints) during Khedkar’s personality test and she made a “false statement” regarding the collection of her biometrics for obtaining favourable orders.
disaster
Dumper mows down 9 sleeping on pavement in Pune, two toddlers among three killed
Pune (Maharashtra), Dec 23: In a horrific incident, two toddlers and a man were crushed to death when a speeding dumper mowed nine pavement dwellers here on Monday.
The police said the incident happened around 1 a.m. at Wagholi near the Kesnand Phata when a dumper of a private company from Pune veered onto the footpath and ran over the people, all labourers sleeping in shanties there.
At least three persons, including two minors and another man, were killed instantly while six others were seriously injured in the mishap.
According to preliminary information, the dumper driver was allegedly in an inebriated state and lost control of the heavy vehicle, said to be owned by Buildwell Enterprises, while going from Pune to Wagholi.
The victims are identified as: One-year-old Vaibhavi Ritesh Pawar, her two-year-old brother Vaibhav Ritest Pawar, and a man named Rinesh N. Pawar, 30. They were all sleeping beside each other when the tragedy hit them.
The condition of the six others injured has been described as critical. They have been admitted to the Sassoon Hospital.
According to locals, around a dozen workers had arrived here from Amravati on Sunday to work as labourers in different construction sites in the region.
Local police and officials have launched a probe into the exact causes of the disaster as initial reports suggest that the driver was purportedly in a drunken state, said locals who rushed there to help the victims.
The accident site was an eerie scene with bodies of the victims and injured, blood splattered all around, and the bare belongings, clothes or utensils of the labourers strewn in the vicinity, resembling a war zone.
Later, the police arranged to move the dumper, completed the relevant formalities and cleared the footpath, said the locals, as people vented their angst on social media.
Maharashtra
Guardian Minister: Now the battle for the post of guardian minister in Mahayuti, BJP-NCP’s internal game to weaken Shinde
Mumbai: The drama of distribution of posts in the three-party ‘Khichdi Sarkar’ of Mahayuti is not ending. First there was a phase of placating the people holding lucrative ministries, then there was the drama of respect and displeasure about who should be included or not in the cabinet and now the tug-of-war has begun over who will be the guardian minister of the districts, i.e. the minister in charge. As long as Eknath Shinde was in the Chief Minister’s chair, he was in power, but as soon as he was promoted from Chief Minister to Deputy Chief Minister, the game of sidelining him on the platform of power has started.
BJP and NCP are trying to fit
their own guardian minister in the districts under Shinde’s influence. Anyway, Shinde’s bargaining power has reduced with the inclusion of Ajit Pawar in the khichdi government. These days the tuning between Shinde and Fadnavis is so good that the Shinde faction is feeling isolated. Shinde’s problem is that even his own MLAs are giving more importance to Fadnavis than him.
BJP stakes claim on the post of guardian minister of Thane district.
However, there are 11 such districts in the state in which there is a cutthroat competition these days among the three parties of the khichdi government for the post of guardian minister. BJP has staked claim on the post of guardian minister of Thane district, where Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has the most influence. BJP MLA Sanjay Kelkar says that in Thane district Shinde’s Shiv Sena has 6 MLAs and BJP has 9 MLAs. BJP wants to make its minister Ganesh Naik the guardian minister of Thane. There is an age-old competition between Eknath Shinde and Ganesh Naik to establish dominance in Thane district. Both of them are basically old Shiv Sainiks of Balasaheb Thackeray.
Uneasiness grows in Shinde’s Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena has always held the post of Guardian Minister of Thane district. This time too Shinde is trying his best to keep it in his possession. But ever since Naik’s name is in discussion, uneasiness has grown in Shinde’s Shiv Sena. If BJP’s Ganesh Naik snatches the post of Guardian Minister from Shiv Sena, then history will be made. The Guardian Minister has the authority to allot development funds. In the coming time, Municipal Corporation elections are going to be held. The post of Guardian Minister is important from that perspective too.
NCP’s Ajit faction wants to capture Raigad
Not only Thane, but also Thane’s neighbouring district Raigad, the NCP’s Ajit faction wants to capture it. The 11 districts where big politics is going on for the post of guardian minister include Thane, Pune, Raigad, Nashik, Beed, Satara, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, are facing a tough situation because one district has two ministers and another has four ministers in the cabinet. In such a situation, there is tough competition for the post of guardian minister, sometimes between two ministers of the same party and sometimes between ministers of alliance parties.
Where and who is the competition between
Thane- Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena), Ganesh Naik (BJP)Raigad- Aditi Tatkare (NCP), Bharat Gogavale (Shiv Sena)Nashik- Girish Mahajan (BJP) Dada Bhuse (Shiv Sena) Narahari Jhirwal (NCP), Manikrao Kokate (NCP)Jalgaon- Gulabrao Patil (Shiv Sena), Sanjay Savkare (BJP)Pune- Ajit Pawar (NCP), Chandrakant Patil (BJP)Beed- Pankaja Munde (BJP), Dhananjay Munde (NCP)Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar- Sanjay Shirsat (Shiv Sena), Atul Save (BJP)Yavatmal- Ashok Uike (BJP) Sanjay Rathod (Shiv Sena), Indranil Naik (NCP)Satara- Shambhuraj Desai (Shiv Sena) Shivendraraje Bhosale (BJP), Jaykumar Gore (BJP), Makarand Patil (NCP)Ratnagiri- Uday Samant (Shiv Sena) Yogesh Kadam (Shiv Sena)Kolhapur- Hasan Mushrif (NCP), Prakash Abitkar (Shiv Sena)
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