Ajit Pawar

Disapproving of Patil’s remarks, Shinde said Ayodhya was a matter of faith for him. Speaking at the Mumbai Tak-Baithak interaction, the chief minister said, ”I told BJP leader and minister Chandrakant Patil that he shouldn’t have spoken against Balasaheb Thackeray.”

To a question about reports that the Enforcement Directorate has given him a clean chit in the alleged Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam, Pawar said it was not true and the probe was still going on.

Referring to the mob violence in Aurangabad on Wednesday night, he also said attempts are being made to disturb the peace

This elicited an apology from Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Talking to reporters here, the senior NCP leader said it is not new for the BJP to divert attention towards communal issues if it is not confident of a victory.

The developments that led to Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar taking oath as chief minister and deputy CM on November 23, 2019, are once again in focus after Fadnavis claimed that NCP supremo Sharad Pawar was in the loop all through.

Pawar also said the Opposition has unanimously decided to boycott the customary tea party to be hosted by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde later in the day.

The MVA has planned a mega protest march from Richardson and Crudass near JJ Hospital, which will culminate in a rally at Azad Maidan in the Fort area of South Mumbai, where all the senior MVA leaders including Uddhav Thackeray, will address the crowd

Speaking to reporters at the airport here, the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly said in the state police department is a very able force in such situations.

Leaders and ministers of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government have been curiously analysing his role in the political mess that spilled over Maharashtra soon after the cross-voting in the Legislative Council elections.

Ajit Pawar, the deputy chief minister, said on Monday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus amid the ongoing political turmoil in Maharashtra. I performed a coronavirus test, and the results are positive.

"Load shedding is going on in the state. A meeting was held on this issue by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. I will take a review of the power department every week on the issue of load shedding and the cabinet has given its approval to check whether there is any availability of power in the country,” Ajit Pawar said.

Ajit Pawar said that Maharashtra has ensured communal harmony for years, but "leaders of some parties" have of late been talking about installing loudspeakers "here and there".

Four out of six patients from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial township and a patient from Pune city have tested negative for the viral infection, Ajit Pawar told reporters after a weekly review meeting on the COVID-19 situation in the district.

Speaking after paying tribute to legendary social reformer Babasaheb Ambedkar at Chaityabhoomi in Dadar here, he said information available showed that those who had taken both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had also got infected with the Omicron variant.

An Income Tax source confirmed that their benami properties division has issued the provisional attachment orders under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act of 1988, regarding various properties linked to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader’s family members, including his son Parth Pawar.

Speaking to reporters, Ajit Pawar said the crop and other losses may go up to Rs 4,000 crore in the Marathwada region alone.

Queried on the IT raids on firms linked to the kin of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and some real estate companies in Pune on Thursday, Fadnavis said the action was not against any one family but against directors of sugar factories.

He said GVK Group, a leading corporate entity that is constructing the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), is financially sound.

The state government is taking efforts to get maximum number of vaccine doses for citizens, Pawar said, after holding a meeting to review the COVID-19 situation in Pune district.