Maharashtra
Amit Shah’s Ganeshotsav trip to Maharashtra may be devotional-cum-political

Over two months after the alliance government of Shiv Sena rebel faction leader and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took charge, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is slated to visit Mumbai on September 5, at the height of the Ganeshotsav festival.
Shah’s customary annual visit to the state’s biggest festival for the past few years used to be a largely religious affair – visiting the Lalbaugcha Raja and other important venues, and taking ‘darshan’ of Lord Ganesha at the homes of several BJP bigwigs in the city.
This year, however, the devotional menu may be laced with a subtle political docket intended to strengthen the Shinde-Fadnavis regime – currently bedevilled by internal, external and legal hassles, plus other political ghosts.
Fadnavis acknowledged all the possibilities with a grin, indicating “there will be a political agenda” during Shah’s visit on Monday, but declined to elaborate.
The Shinde-Fadnavis government has been struggling to attain credibility among the masses after it toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress, led by Uddhav Thackeray.
The MVA has viciously targeted and vituperatively lampooned them for the manner in which the government came to power, with embarrassing choruses of “Khoke Ok” (boxes, implying Rs 50 crore), “traitors”, etc. haunting the “ED sarkar” and needling the 40-odd legislators of the rebel group who sneaked out from June 10 onwards.
The Thackeray-led Shiv Sena even went a step ahead comparing them with a famous Arabian Nights tale of 40 dubious characters, attracting howls of protests and bitter counter-attacks from the “turncoats”.
Shinde faced flak for the massive delays in the cabinet expansion with 18 Ministers – which took place 41 days after he and Fadnavis took oath on June 30 – followed by the hiccups in allocating portfolios, and the hanging swords of the legal tussle in the Supreme Court.
Now, he confronts discontent afresh with many MLAs from his and BJP side clamouring for ministerial berths, and while a second round of expansion may take a while, Shah may cast a benign “glance” and placate the restless legislators.
There is the pending issue of the proposed tie-up with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray, which the BJP has been hoping for since the past over a couple of years.
Once a sharp BJP-baiter, Raj Thackeray apparently sobered up his pilgrimage to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in August 2019, and now the “ED sarkar” is “after” him for a much-anticipated partnership, ahead of the upcoming crucial civic polls.
After recovering from a hip surgery, Raj Thackeray has been the flavour of the season for the BJP with a host of leaders calling on him, like Shinde, Fadnavis, state and city party heads Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Ashish Shelar, respectively, and others.
There’s intense speculation that Shah may home in on the reluctant Raj Thackeray and nudge him into a cooperative alliance – for the mutual benefit of MNS-BJP-Shinde Group – in the civic elections, to begin with, and get a “Thackeray” on the BJP side.
In recent weeks, some prominent Congressmen like ex-CM Ashok Chavan, have been doing multiple rounds of several BJP leaders, rattling the party’s state unit.
However, Congress leaders and Chavan have been claiming that these meetings pertain to “official or constituency-related works”, but the political grapevine is furiously spreading into a vineyard!
It is not immediately clear whether Shah will devote any attention to this new political development – that may well spell further doom for the MVA.
Maharashtra
Navi Mumbai: CIDCO Gets New MD, Joint Managing Director

Anil Diggikar was appointed as the new vice Chairman and Managing Director of the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) on June 5, 2023. He accepted the post’s responsibilities from Dr. Sanjay Mukherjee, previous Vice Chairman and Managing Director of CIDCO at CIDCO’s Nirmal office in Mumbai. Sanjay Mukherjee has been appointed as the new MMRDA chief.
On this occasion Shantanu Goel, who was appointed as Joint Managing Director of CIDCO, also accepted his post’s responsibilities.
Anil Diggikar is a 1990 batch IAS officer
Anil Diggikar is a 1990 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Maharashtra cadre. He is a graduate in Civil Engineering and has done professional education in Effective Methods and Operations Research for Public Policy and Management from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore. He has completed advanced courses in World Trade Organisation from Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi, Ethics in Public Administration from Center for Governance, Pachagani, Leadership Development Program from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore.
Started career in 1990 as assistant collector in Ratnagiri
Diggikar started his career in 1990 as Assistant Collector in Ratnagiri. During the years 1992-1994, while working as Assistant Collector in Latur, he did valuable work for the rehabilitation of earthquake victims. He has held various important posts like Commissioner of Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, Director General of Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (Mahaurja) in Pune, Additional Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Chairman of JNPT, Managing Director of MSRDC, Principal Secretary and Special Task Officer in Chief Minister’s Office.
Before accepting the charge of Managing Director of CIDCO, Diggikar was working as the Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MHADA. He is known as a creative administrative officer due to various citizen-oriented characteristic work.
Shantanu Goel is a 2012 batch IAS officer
Shantanu Goel is a 2012 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Maharashtra cadre and was working as MGNREGA Commissioner in Nagpur before being appointed as Joint Managing Director of CIDCO.
Maharashtra
Maha CM Eknath Shinde to launch cluster development scheme in Thane today

The launch of the much-talked cluster development scheme will be held on Monday, June 5 in the presence of Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) said that this would be one of the biggest projects in the continent, and it is an ambitious project of CM Eknath Shinde.
The implementation of this plan, which has been on paper for many years, will finally fulfill the dream of the people in Thane who are staying in dilapidated and unauthorised buildings for a long time.The CM and the deputy CM on Monday will inaugurate the Kisan Nagar cluster, which is the home turf of CM Shinde. CIDCO will execute the project said an official from TMC.
Cluster development scheme will change lives
A cluster redevelopment office has also been constructed at Kashish Park near Teen Hath Naka to manage the operations of the cluster development scheme.
The officials from TMC said, “The integrated redevelopment project will be done on the lines of townships. The occupants will get a 323 Sq ft ownership house. Earlier CM said that the government is committed to rapid development of industrial corridors across the state even as the central committee on the National Industrial Corridor praised the infrastructure development work being carried out in Maharashtra at a review meeting last week.”
Redevelopment of dilapidated buildings
TMC officials said, “A cluster scheme will be implemented for the redevelopment of dilapidated dangerous unauthorised and official buildings in Thane city with well-planned and complete civic infrastructure. A total of 45 urban regeneration schemes have been prepared with a total area of 1500 hectares. A regulation was prepared from the concept of CM Shinde for the collective redevelopment of unauthorized and official dangerous buildings. The redeveloped township plan includes well-equipped health, educational, sports, recreational, parking, mandi and civic facilities.”
Maharashtra
Mumbai Weather: IMD predicts light rainfall over next 48 hours, AQI good at 39

Mumbai: The city and its suburbs are likely to remain partly cloudy today. However, the city may experience light rain/drizzle over the next two days.
Mumbai’s temperature on Monday morning is 31.4°C, while the humidity is 71%.
As per IMD’s district-wise forecast, partly cloudy skies with light to moderate rain are likely in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar on June 5.
Mumbai Weather
The IMD said that the city would witness partly cloudy skies on Monday. However, rain or thundershowers could occur towards the evening or night on June 5, and 6.
The weather agency said maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 34°C & 28°C.
Mumbai AQI
As per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), the AQI in Mumbai is currently in the ‘good’ category, with a reading of 39.
For context, an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 to 100 is ‘satisfactory’, 101 to 200 is ‘moderate’, 201 to 300 ‘poor’, 301 to 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 to 500 ‘severe’.
AQI of different areas in Mumbai
Colaba · 29 AQI Good
Mazgaon · 77 AQI Satisfactory
Malad · 33 AQI Good
Borivali· 50 AQI Good
Navi Mumbai · 92 AQI Satisfactory
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