Marathi actor Amol Kolhe, who attained popularity for his portrayal of Chhatrapati Shivaji in a TV serial, on Wednesday joined the Shiv Sena.
He joined the Shiv Sena in the presence of party chief Uddhav Thackeray.
Kolhe had earlier been in touch with Thackeray’s bete-noire, his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray who leads the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). The Shiv Sena has been hit by several high-profile defections in recent weeks.
Kolhe, a doctor by profession, has acted in several TV serials like “Rajmata Jijau”, “Olakh” and “Raja Shiv Chhatrapati”.
Lashing out at the MNS and Raj Thackeray, he said: “I never approached anybody. They approached me. They even offered me a Lok Sabha nomination, but I had no faith in that party’s leadership.”
The MNS was planning to name Kolhe for the Shirur Lok Sabha seat, but at the last minute changed its plan and gave the ticket to Ashok Khandebarad.
“I feel happy supporting a party (Shiv Sena) which will show the way in Maharashtra instead of some other party (MNS) which is destroying it,” Kolhe said.
The timing could not have been more appropriate as the Shiv Sena Wednesday celebrated the “Chhatrapati Shivaji Jayanti”.
The party was founded by late Bal Thackeray based on the warrior king’s ideals.
Asked about the recent defections, Uddhav Thackeray said these were too insignificant to matter for the party.
Former Shiv Sena MLA Yogesh Patil today joined Congress in the presence of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
Patil, who had represented the Bhiwandi Assembly constituency, was welcomed into the party fold by Chavan and MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre.
Dalit leaders Jogendra Kawade of People’s Republican Party (PRP) and former minister Sulekha Kumbhare also announced their support to the Congress-led Democratic Front in the state for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.
To a query, Kawade said he had decided to back Congress to thwart “communal forces” from coming to power in Delhi.
In a veiled attack on RPI chief Ramdas Athawale, who is part of the Shiv Sena-BJP led opposition alliance, Kawade said, “How can people who call themselves followers of Babasaheb Ambedkar go with parties which opposed renaming of Marathwada University.”
He cited late Bal Thackeray’s opposition to renaming of the varsity in early 90s.
“These people (Athawale) go along with parties which have the likes of Arun Shourie who insulted Ambedkar in his book,” Kawade said.
Meanwhile, responding to Kawade’s criticism, Athawale said the Congress had roped him to woo Dalit voters.
Jolted by reports of 22 farmer suicides in three weeks driven by massive crop failure, the Maharashtra government today appealed to farmers “not to take emotional steps” and wait for relief measures.
“I assure all my farmer brethren that we stand solidly behind you. I request that please don’t be carried away by emotions or helplessness. We are doing our best to help you,” said Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who has faced political attacks for not doing enough for farmers devastated by crop loss.
Mr Chavan also said he had spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Election Commission, amid questions about whether a relief package just ahead of the national election would be considered a violation of the code of conduct.
The election code of conduct bans parties from making any announcement that can influence voters.
The Chief Minister’s appeal is significant after recent threats by farmers in Vidarbha to use the “None Of The Above” option while casting their votes in next month’s election, if they don’t receive help soon.
The Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, a farmers’ advocacy group, has said in a report that 22 farmers have ended their lives in the Vidarbha and Marathawada regions, in the past three weeks. Nine of these deaths took place in just the past three days, after a prolonged and unusual hailstorm destroyed acres of crops, the group says.
The Maharashtra government has not confirmed these grim statistics, but has asked for Rs. 5,000 crore from the Centre.
Activists say the process of receiving any relief involves a report from the state government, followed by a spot assessment by a central team before any money is sanctioned.
It is too long, they say, and even this amount may not be enough to compensate for the loss of crop spread over at least 16 lakh hectares.
Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region is often described as ‘suicide country’ with reports of a farmer suicide every eight hours even till two years ago.
Ahead of next month’s general election, the tragic deaths have fueled a political blame-game. The opposition Shiv Sena has alleged that the Congress and NCP, which co-govern Maharashtra and are allies at the Centre, are using the election code of conduct as an excuse for inaction.
“I blame the system. Should we talk of rules when people are dying?” said the Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut.
Villagers from as many as 47 villages in the Etapalli taluka of the district have decided to boycott Lok Sabha elections to press for a separate state of Vidarbha, sources said here today.
Besides raising other important demands, the election boycott is also in protest against the administration not solving their basic problems.
The decision which was taken by villagers during their meetings was declared today at a press conference by office bearers of Rashtriya Janhitavadi Yuwa Samiti. They also submitted a memorandum to the district collector today in this regard.
Problems of tribals in remote areas of Etapalli taluka have been ignored all these years and they are deprived of various welfare schemes, despite various agitations, due to which they have decided to boycott elections as a last resort, Samiti founder Suresh Barsagade told reporters.
Other demands raised by the Samiti are that a separate Aheri district be formed, forest rights be given to all encroachers, ownership rights of land sanctioned under forest rights be given to land holders, free and quality education be provided to students in tribal areas, lease of iron ore in the district should not be given to any private company and reservation to other backward castes (OBCs) be raised to 19 per cent.
In a significant order, the Bombay High Court banned reclamation of wetlands as well as construction activities on them across Maharashtra.
The order came following a slew of complaints against authorities concerned over their failure to rein in the encroachers.
The bench headed by Justice V M Kanade, which was hearing a PIL filed by NGO Vanshakti, also directed Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and Collectors of Thane, Mumbai Suburban District and Mumbai City to file reports within four weeks on action taken on alleged violations in wetland areas of the state.
The PIL alleged destruction of wetlands in suburban Malwani, Dahisar, Vasai, Esselworld, Oshiwara, Kanakia Nagar in Mira Road, Kasheli in Thane and Palm Beach Road area in Navi Mumbai.
The PIL said despite a High Court order four months ago, police and civic bodies had failed to take stringent action on complaints relating to alleged destruction of mangroves and wetlands in at least 14 locations in and around Mumbai including Thane, Diva, Mumbra, Vasai and Mira Bhayander.
The government had told the court earlier that an authority for monitoring wetlands would be constituted soon.
However, the NGO’s counsel, Gayatri Singh argued that the state government had not come out with a time-bound programme as when such an authority would be established.
The government had informed earlier that an expert committee had confirmed in a report that wetlands in neighbouring Vasai were being destroyed due to construction activities.
The NGO alleged that police did not heed complaints in this regard. The government argued that police were not empowered to take action in these matters but MPCB was.
The PIL said the Wetlands (conservation and management) Rules, 2010, were not being implemented in the state despite India being a signatory to the Ramsar Convention.
It also stated that the wetland atlas prepared by the Indian Scientific Research Organisation was not recognised by the state.
A PIL has urged the Bombay High Court to issue a direction to the Union government to spell out the status of Hindi language and also to rename the country as ‘Bharat’ and not ‘India’.
“There is ambiguity in respect of Hindi language… In some text books it is termed as ‘official language’ while in others it is called as Raj bhasha (state language) or ‘Rashtra Bhasha’ (national language). Some books even refer to Hindi as ‘sampark bhasha’ (contact language),” the PIL said.
The government should clear this ambiguity in the school text books and declare what is the actual status of Hindi language.
The PIL, filed recently, also expressed concern with the dual name of the country viz ‘India’ and ‘Bharat’. “
The country should be known as ‘Bharat’ and citizenship as ‘Bhartiya”, the petition, based on RTI, said.
The petition argues that just as an individual cannot have two names, the country also cannot be called by two
different names viz India, Bharat or Hindustan.
“When Britishers ruled the country, its name was changed from ‘Bharat’ to ‘India’. After Independence, it
continued to be known as India. The country should be called as ‘Bharat’ which is its original name,” the PIL said.
The petition, filed by RTI activist Manoranjan Roy, said he had received a reply from Ministry of Home Affairs in
New Delhi stating that under the provisions of Constitution, Hindi was the official language of the Union although there was no provision for national language in the constitution.
As far as the name of the country was concerned, the government reply said that no such information was available with the department. A copy of the reply was annexed to PIL. The respondents to the petition are the Union of India and State of Maharashtra. The PIL would come up for hearing in due course.
BJP has decided to field Kapil Patil, chairman of the Thane District Cooperative Bank, from Bhiwandi Lok Sabha seat and Heena Gavit from the Nandurbar Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra. Karunanidhi has compromised on reservation policy, she charged.
The decision was taken at the BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting which was attended by party president Rajnath Singh and Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi beside other senior party leaders, party sources said.
Heena Gavit, a doctor and daughter of senior NCP leader and Maharashtra’s minister for Horticulture and Medical Education Vijay Kumar Gavit, today joined BJP in the pressence of Modi and Rajnath Singh.
She has been given the party ticket from Nandurbar, senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde and Rajiv Pratap Rudy who is in charge of party affairs in Maharashtra said.
The party also decided to field Vijay Jadav, a former MLA from Resod Assembly seat, in the by-elections for the Maharashtra Assembly.
The CEC also authorised party president Rajnath Singh to take a final call on the BJP candidates from the Pune and Latur Lok Sabha seats.
The party stands divided for the Pune seat where BJP national spokesperson Prakash Javrekar in a claimant after he lost out on a Rajya Sabha re-nomination to RPI’s Ramdas Athawale.
Sitting MLA Girish Bapat, a close confidant of former party president Nitin Gadkari and Anil Shirol, the district president and an aide of senior party leader Gopinath Munde, are also strong claimants for the seat. Gadkari and Munde are lobbying for their candidates.
The sessions court is likely to pronounce the verdicts in the cases related to two gangrapes that took place at the Shakti Mill premises here last year, leading to a countrywide outrage, on Thursday.
“The court is likely to pronounce the verdicts on Thursday,” said the special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
The first case pertains to the gang-rape of a 22-year-old magazine photojournalist who had gone to the deserted Shakti Mills compound in Central Mumbai with a male colleague on an assignment on August 22, 2013.
Five men, (including a juvenile, whose case was separated) are accused of raping her there after assaulting her colleague.
The accused in this case, namely, Vijay Jadhav, Kasim Bengali, Salim Ansari and Siraj Rehman (and the minor boy), are charged with rape, conspiracy, common intention, unnatural sex and offences under the Information Technology Act.
The other case is of an 18-year-old telephone operator who was allegedly gang-raped by five persons (including three of the accused in the first case) on the same premises on July 31 last year.
The accused in this case are Mohammed Ashfaq Sheikh, Mohamed Kasim Hafiz Sheikh alias Kasim Bengali, Salim Ansari, Vijay Jadhav and a minor. The minor’s case was separated.
During the trial, special prosecutor Nikam termed the incidents as horrible, gruesome, merciless sexual assaults on two helpless, defenceless and innocent survivors.
Defence lawyers R G Gadgil and Prakash Salsingikar, on the other hand, contended that prosecution’s versions were concocted ones, without any evidence.
“The screenplay was ready, the police went on casting the actors (the accused),” advocate Gadgil argued.
The prosecution examined 44 witnesses in the photojournalist’s case and 31 in the other case. The defence examined three witnesses in the photojournalist’s case and only one witness in the other case.
Narendra Modi is all set to contest from Varanasi. The entire focus of elections have changed. Whichever party made it to power in Delhi; they all sailed through Uttar Pradesh. Atal Bihari came to power from here and after independence, BJP ruled only for 6 years. In 1991 general election, P.V. Narasimha Rao broke the fable; then Congress won only five out of 84 Lok Sabha seats from this state then also it ruled at the centre. Thakur and Brahmin politics of UP has major role in making and breaking the authority. For BJP, UP has been an important state with its overall electoral affluences to its seat tally. BJP came once to power via UP, over Ram Mandir episode.
In 1991, 1996 and 1998 BJP won 50-plus seats from UP in the general elections. From 1999 general election, BJP started fading in UP as they failed in their promise of making Ram Mandir the disputed land. People felt cheated and since then, BJP never came to power again. There after Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) took over the charge of UP turn by turn. Once again, party is enthusiastic that Modi can revive the BJP voters and party can topple the chart in maximum constituencies in the state. Modi is regarded as ‘Hindutva’ leader and also is known for his development and progress vision. UP has already given its mandate to BJP because of Modi factor. Uttar Pradesh elections would be quite interesting this time.
Old rulers of state, BSP and SP are keeping no stones unturned to gain maximum seats. Though Congress is not in competition in this state, then also it is trying its hand very hard. Newly emerged AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal is contesting against Modi and on March 25th he will be addressing a rally in the temple city. Thousands of volunteers of BJP and AAP are working for their respective leaders in state, through online promotions, social network campaigns, news and word publicity, everything is random for both the candidates. Without a strong performance in this belt, the BJP will not be able to come anywhere near to the 272-seat target it has set and it feels that Modi contesting from Varanasi will induce some kind of a swing. BJP policymakers feel that with the western UP already polarised in its favour after the Muzaffarnagar riots, they need one more boost for eastern UP, so as to bag the entire state. The candidature of Modi from Varanasi, party strategists, would provide a fillip to the party in the state.
At the same time, experts from this ancient city speculate that there are many who fear that Modi’s presence may spoil the fabric of the city which has had a large Muslim population living side by side with the Hindus. The flowers offered in the ancient temples here are sold by Muslims, even the Banarasi saree is woven by Muslims. Many who come from higher income groups and academic backgrounds are worried about what Modi will do. Joshi won from here by a small margin of 17,200 votes in the 2009 polls against mafia don Mukhtar Ansari of BSP. Although touted as a BJP stronghold, it has given mixed results to the party in the last few elections. The Congress has fielded influential leader Ajai Rai and Mukhtar Ansari is likely to again jump into the fray from his own political outfit Qaumi Ekta Dal. AAP has already declared that its founder Arvind Kejriwal would contest the polls if Modi stands from Varanasi.
Uttar Pradesh is a very important state for BJP, BSP and SP. However, division of votes can elect individuals to the Parliament. This is a regular but unwelcome aspect of elections in caste-ridden states, particularly in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier, the Congress was benefiting from division of votes. Now, BJP may be a beneficiary. However, there is still uncertainty. Formation of government at the Centre, with the alliance of many parties with a regional agenda should be avoided but they have no national views.
Meanwhile, Arvind Kejriwal has lost a good opportunity to give India an honest alternative. As Abraham Lincoln said “You can fool all the people some of the time, some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”. AAP has already set up a team of active members in every gram sabha, block, panchayat and city level constituencies and volunteers are meeting people. The party plans to have at least 5,000 active workers from both Allahabad and Phulpur. They are making efforts to induct more and more people into the party fold and asking them to hear Arvind Kejriwal’s views at his proposed rally in Varanasi. Active volunteers are going to each gram sabha, village and block, appointing an active team of members and apprising to the villagers the concept of Swaraj. Now, it is election time and UP becomes a very important state. Otherwise, it gets relegated to one of the most backward states, and has retained that status since 1947.
Varanasi election is a battle between common man (not Aam Aadmi Party) and political dictators… let see who wins from there.
Congress is likely to field party General Secretary and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Dijvijaya Singh against Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi in the Lok Sabha elections.
According to sources, Digvijaya has told the party that he is ready to take on Modi in Varanasi.
Congress has maintained that the party will field the strongest possible candidate against Modi.
While no decision has been taken as yet but indications from the party is to put up Digvijaya, who according to sources can be a formidable candidate against Modi. Digvijaya has challenged Modi several times for an open debate and has claimed that he is a much more devout Hindu than the Gujarat Chief Minister.
Congress is also likely to field Captain Amrinder Singh against senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley from Amritsar. As per sources, the party believes that being the former chief minister, Captain Singh stands a strong chance of winning against Jaitley.
This even as Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Wednesday expressed his willingness to contest the polls.
There are reports that the party may come out with a few more names for the polls on Wednesday evening.
Marathi actor Amol Kolhe, who attained popularity for his portrayal of Chhatrapati Shivaji in a TV serial, on Wednesday joined the Shiv Sena.
Former Shiv Sena MLA Yogesh Patil today joined Congress in the presence of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. 
Jolted by reports of 22 farmer suicides in three weeks driven by massive crop failure, the Maharashtra government today appealed to farmers “not to take emotional steps” and wait for relief measures.
Congress is likely to field party General Secretary and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Dijvijaya Singh against Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi in the Lok Sabha elections.