NCP

After the meeting, NCP general secretary Praful Patel said Sharad Pawar has been elected unopposed by the party's national executive. The party would hold national council meeting on Sunday during which Pawar is expected to lay out the road map for the national-level alliance of the opposition parties.

BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule spent a day in Baramati to prepare for Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's 3-day visit to Baramati from September 22. At a meeting of party workers, Bawankule said that the BJP will now target capturing Baramati which is among the 16 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state for which the party will pay special attention.

"Who is footing the bills of the hotels in Surat (Gujarat) and Guwahati (Assam) as well as the chartered flights?" asked Tapase. His party colleague Clyde Crasto pointed out how the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is saying the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party "is supporting (rebel Shiv Sena MLAs) in Maharashtra".

Justice N.J. Jamdar passed the orders in an interim bail plea filed by Deshmukh and a plea by Malik only seeking relief to enable him cast his vote under a police escort. Both leaders are from the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ally Nationalist Congress Party. Deshmukh was arrested on November 2, 2021, and Malik was nabbed on February 23 this year under various cases of alleged corruption and money laundering by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

"I enjoyed reading those (14) tweets. I am accused of minority appeasement and caste politics. The NCP's policies are not based on such things. I don't give much importance to the criticism," said Pawar with a mischievous glint in his eyes, making it clear he cared little for the Opposition's repeated assaults. Pawar -- who was accorded a hero's welcome here on Friday morning -- said he was more concerned about the unity of the state which is in 'danger' than the Opposition barbs at him.

However, Pawar also added that he is ready to help in uniting the Opposition. Talking to media persons in Kolhapur, Pawar said that some of his party’s youth wing workers recently passed a resolution to make him the chairperson of UPA, but he has zero interest in it.

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.

Coming three days after his brother-in-law faced action by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Thackeray also questioned the corruption allegations levelled by the BJP and the actions of various central probe agencies to defame the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, its leaders and their families.

Malik, 62, who held the Minority Affairs and Skill Development, besides being Guardian Minister of Gondiya and Parbhani districts, was arrested on February 23, and is currently in judicial custody till March 21. At a meeting presided over by the NCP President Sharad Pawar, it was decided to relieve Malik of his portfolios and other official charges to ensure work does not suffer and files don't pile up in his absence.