Maharashtra Government

A protege of Anand Dighe, the then Thane district chief of Shiv Sena, Shinde joined politics in 1980 and was elected as councillor in 1997, and as MLA in 2004. Since then he is continuously winning and holds the Urban Development portfolio in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. He also served as the leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly.

Addressing a huge rally here, Thackeray targeted the BJP and his estranged cousin and MNS chief Raj Thackeray on a wide-range of issues including their brand of Hindutva, love for Marathi, the Centre's pending GST dues to Maharashtra, BJP's hurdles in various important development projects of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, and attempts to separate Mumbai as a Union Territory.

Navneet Rana and her husband Ravi Rana, who is also an Independent MLA, were arrested on Saturday from their Mumbai residence after they announced to recite 'Hanuman Chalisa' outside Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's house, 'Matoshree', in Bandra. Navneet's written complaint was accompanied by a pen drive, which reportedly contains alleged hate speech made by Raut targeting the Ranas.

The judges upheld his references to the FIR pertaining to chant religious verses near the personal home of the CM since such an act to recite the religious chants at the residence of another person or at a public place is a breach of personal liberty of the other person, and the Maharashtra government was justified in its apprehensions that it could lead to a law and order situation in Mumbai.

Special Public Prosecutor Pradip Gharat said the court also declined urgent hearing to the Ranas' bail application which will now come up only next Friday (April 29). The Ranas' lawyer Rizwan Merchant termed the police case as 'fake' and said that certain charges were added later on under pressures. He termed all the charges against them as baseless since the couple had not flouted the laws as contended.

A police officer said that they have registered a case invoking Sections 153(A) and Sec. 34 of Indian Penal Code, along with Sec. 37(1) 135 of Bombay Police Act, and further investigations are underway against the duo. The charges against the couple -- Navneet Rana, 36 and Ravi Rana, 40, who describe themselves as 'farmers' - pertain to disturbing peace and order, and making inflammatory statements, by the Khar Police Station following a complaint by Shiv Sena activists.

MLA Rana claimed that the agitation was being withdrawn in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Mumbai tomorrow (Sunday, April 24) to avoid any law-and-order situation from cropping up. The duo claimed that they were not under any kind of pressure or scared by the Maha Vikas Aghadi or the Shiv Sena, but were dropping their plans in honour of the PM's trip to Mumbai.

The MNS workers also raised slogans of 'Jai Shree Ram' as they gathered outside the party's office at Sai Chowk. The move by MNS workers to play Hanuman Chalisa has been criticized by the top leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut went on to allege that Raj Thackeray's speech was scripted and sponsored by theBJP.

In a Macaque-shaming somersault, Raj slammed Uddhav for not respecting the peoples' mandate in favour of Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 Assembly elections and choosing to ally with Nationalist Congress Party-Congress to head the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. "He has betrayed the peoples' verdict. He claims there was a closed-door understanding with Amit Shah to share the post of CM. Why he remembered it only after the elections," boomed Raj.

In a letter to Thackeray, state Congress President Nana Patole said that the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress - hailing from different ideological backgrounds -- had decided to run the MVA government on the basis of a CMP. "Owing to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic since March 2020, the CMP implementation was delayed, but now as the coronavirus threat is over, the CMP should be executed for the overall development of all sections of society," Patole urged the Chief Minister.