1. Home
  2. BJP-Shiv Sena eye gains as Cong-NCP aim to hold fort in Western Maharashtra

BJP-Shiv Sena eye gains as Cong-NCP aim to hold fort in Western Maharashtra

Agencies
April 15, 2019

Mumbai, Apr 15: The prosperous, politically-dominant region of Western Maharashtra, which has seen a huge turmoil in recent weeks, is all set for edge-of-seat contest in its nine Lok Sabha constituencies here.

These are: Pune, Baramati, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur and Hathkanangale that will vote in Phase III on April 23, and Maval and Shirur, where polling is in Phase IV on April 29.

Unawed by the `Modi wave` of 2014, the region conceded only two seats to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), two to its ally Shiv Sena but gave four to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and one to the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS).

The elections will decide the political fate of some of the biggest political clans like the Pawars, the Mohite-Patils and the late Vasantrao `Dada` Patil`s family clawing to retain their stronghold as the ruling BJP attempts to bulldoze their supremacy.

For starters, the third generation Parth Pawar, son of former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and grand-nephew of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, is contesting from Maval, while his cousin-aunt Supriya Sule (Sharad Pawar`s daughter) is nominated from Baramati.

Parth is pitted against Shiv Sena`s sitting MP Shrirang C. Barne with the ally BJP Minister Chandrakant Patil vowing to chase away Parth from the battlefield.

In Baramati, the seat represented by Sharad Pawar for seven terms and Ajit Pawar for one term, Supriya Sule is making her third attempt amidst a loud chorus by the BJP that the "Pawars would be politically erased" from the region.

The BJP has pitted Kanchan Kul, making it only one of the two seats in the state - besides Mumbai North-Central - which will have a direct woman-to-woman contest, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders launched a scathing attack on the Pawar clan.

In fact, Modi was scheduled to address a rally here on April 10, but it was cancelled at the last minute and now he`s expected to come next week to give a final push to Pawars` prospects.

In Shirur, there`s a dash of glamour in the form of television actor Amol Kolhe - famed for the roles of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj - contesting on an NCP ticket.

Interestingly, Kolhe had left the Shiv Sena to join the NCP two months ago and is now hoping to wrest the Shirur seat from the three-timer sitting Sena MP Shivajirao A. Patil.

Sangli has another tough contest coming up with the late Vasantrao Patil`s grandson, Vishal Prakashbapu Patil, entering the fray on an SSS ticket, as part of the Congress-NCP led 56-party Mahagathbandhan, pitted against the BJP`s sitting MP Sanjay `Kaka` Patil.

Vishal Prakashbapu Patil`s nomination sparked a family fued with his elder brother and former Union Minister Pratik Prakashbapu Patil qutting the Congress and politics.

The Satara seat has an interesting contest with the NCP`s two-time MP Udayanraje P. Bhosale, a direct descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, locking horns with the BJP`s Narendra Annasaheb Patil, a former Shiv Sainik.

In Madha, the NCP dropped sitting MP Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil and denied a ticket to his son Ranjitsinh, who walked over to the BJP, but it has given the ticket to a royal descendent, Ranjitsinh Naik-Nimbalkar, who recently quit the Congress. He will lock horns with NCP nominee Sanjay Shinde, a bitter rival of the Mohite-Patils.

Pune will see state minister Girish Bapat contesting as a BJP candidate after the party dropped its sitting MP Anil Shirole. He will be challenged by Congress state General Secretary Mohan Joshi.

Hathkanangale will see two-time SSS MP Raju Shetti take on the Shiv Sena`s Dhairyasheel Mane, son of former NCP MP Nivedita Mane.

Western Maharashtra has several major sugar mills, Pune is regarded as the state`s cultural capital and the `Oxford of the East`, Solapur is famed for its textiles industries while Sangli is India`s turmeric capital.

Satara and Kolhapur are home to two of the biggest royal families in western India who are direct descendents of the Chhatrapatis.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 8,2020

New Delhi, Aug 7: With the highest single-day spike of 62,538 cases, India's COVID-19 count rose to 20,27,075 on Friday, said Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total cases include 6,07,384 active cases, 13,78,106 cured/discharged/migrated, and 41,585 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

The country's COVID-19 positive cases crossed the 10 lakh mark on July 17 when the total positive cases stood at 10,03,832 in India.

Maharashtra with 1,46,268 active cases and 3,05,521 cured and discharged patients continues to be the worst affected. The state has also reported 16,476 deaths due to the infection.

Tamil Nadu has 54,184 active cases while 2,14,815 patients have been discharged after treatment in the state. 4,461 deaths have been reported due to COVID-19 in the state.

Total COVID-19 cases in Andhra Pradesh are 1,96,789 including 1,12,870 recoveries, 82,166 active cases, and 1,753 deaths, as per the last health bulletin.

Delhi reported 1,192 new COVID-19 cases and 23 deaths on Friday. The total count of cases in the national capital has risen to 1,42,723. 

According to the Health Department, a total of 1,108 recoveries have been reported in Delhi in the last 24 hours.

The total number of cases includes 1,28,232 recoveries, 10,409 active cases, and 4,082 deaths.

According to the official data, 5,612 RT-PCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests and 17,773 rapid antigen tests were conducted today.

A total of 11,43,703 test has been conducted so far. The Union Health Ministry said that India continues its track record of testing more than 6 lakh COVID-19 samples each day for the fourth successive day.

"Expanded diagnostic lab network and facilitation for easy testing across the country have given a boost, and with 6,39,042 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, India has done 2,27,88,393 tests presently. The Tests Per Million (TPM) has seen a sharp increase to 16,513," the ministry said.

As many as 473 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Jammu and Kashmir today; 128 from Jammu division and 345 from Kashmir division.

The total number of cases stood at 23,927 including 7,260 actives cases, 16,218 recoveries, and 449 deaths.

The government of Mizoram informed that 19 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the state, taking the total number of cases to 558.
The number of active cases is 270 while 288 people have been discharged. No death reported in the state to date.

Bihar Health Department said, 3646 new cases reported in the state on August 6. Total tally reaches 71,794.

Similarly, 244 new COVID-19 cases, 77 recoveries, and five deaths were reported in Puducherry on Friday, taking the total number of cases to 4,862, including 1,873 active cases, 2,914 recoveries, and 75 deaths.

1,063 new cases of COVID-19 cases, 381 recovered and 23 deaths reported in Punjab in the last 24 hours. State tally rises to 21,930 including 7,351 active cases, 14,040 cured/discharged and 539 deaths.

Meanwhile, 1,074 new cases of COVID-19 and 22 deaths reported in Gujarat in last the 24 hours. State tally rises to 68,885 including 14,587 active cases, 51,692 cured/discharged and 2,606 deaths, the State Health Department said.

According to the Union Health Ministry, West Bengal has 23,829 active cases with 1,902 deaths so far while, Karnataka has 75,076 active cases of the virus with 80,281 recovered and 2,897 deaths so far.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 10,2020

Kochi, May 10: A total of 698 people who were evacuated from Maldives on INS Jalashwa, arrived here on Sunday around 9.30am (India time), said the Cochin Port officials. This operation is part of Indian Navy's 'Operation Samudra Setu'.

Another 121 from Lakshadweep also arrived at Mattanchery, near here. on MV Arabian Sea - a passenger/cargo ship sailing under the Indian Flag.

Samudrika Cruise Terminal has been opened up for handling the expatriates and Port has taken up necessary refurbishments consistent with the medical protocols.

The Cochin Port Trust officials said the first group of 698 persons evacuated from Maldives comprises 595 males and 103 females. Of this, 14 are children below 10 years and 19 pregnant women.

Among the 698 passengers, 440 are from Kerala, 156 from Tamil Nadu and the rest are from various states in the country.

Ernakulam district collector S. Suhas said all those from Tamil Nadu will be sent to their state in the bus.

The ship is berthed at BTP Jetty and the disembarkation procedures are being carried out at Samudrika Cruise Terminal. It will take around three hours for all the passengers to be cleared.

According to the protocols, all the Keralaites will be sent for 14 days institutional quarantine at their respective home districts.

Those who are having exemption from institutional quarantine have to be at home isolation.

Among the 121 who arrived on MV Arabian Sea from Lakshadweep include students and those Keralaites who work in the island.

The protocol for these 121 passengers is that since they have been checked there, all these people can go to their homes and be in isolation for 14 days.

The general guideline is if any one shows any symptoms of Covid-19, all such people will be directly sent to Covid hospitals, here.

The distance between Male and Kochi is 493 nautical miles and it began its voyage to Kochi on Friday evening.

INS Jalashwa is an Indian naval ship attached to the Eastern Naval Command. It was acquired from the United States and was commissioned in 2007.

INS Jalashwa has the capacity to accommodate 1000 troops, and comes equipped with extensive medical facilities, including four operation theatres, and a 12-bed ward facility.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 12,2020

New Delhi, May 12: Stranded for over 50 days due to the lockdown and suspension of passenger train services, many people in the national capital will finally be able to reach their destinations in different parts of the country after the railways resumed services on Tuesday.

Three special AC trains will leave the New Delhi railway station for Dibrugarh, Bengaluru and Bilaspur.

The train to Dibrugarh in Assam will leave at 4.45 p.m, while the one leaving for Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh and Bengaluru in Karnataka will leave the New Delhi station at 5.30 p.m and 9.15 p.m respectively.

Entry to the station has been facilitated from the Paharganj side for all confirmed ticket holders. No entry for passengers holding such tickets will be permitted from the Ajmeri Gate side, the railways said.

Railway authorities have put barricades outside the station premises and only those with confirmed tickets are being allowed to enter.

All passengers are undergoing thermal screening before entering the station premises. For this purpose, they have also been asked to reach the station 90 minutes prior to the departure of the train.

A senior Railway Police Force officer said every passenger is being subjected to thermal screening. Hand sanitiser machines have also been placed at the entrance and the passengers are being advised to sanitise their hands before entering the station premises.

Syed Yasir, a private retail sector executive, said due to the resumption of services he will now be able to go to Nagpur to be with his family on Eid. 

Surendra, an engineer with a PSU, was on an assignment in Agra when the lockdown was announced. After the Railways decided to resume passenger train services, he came to Delhi in a private vehicle to board the train to Bengaluru.

"I was on an assignment in Agra where I was stuck. I have come from Agra in a private vehicle and now going to board the train to Bengaluru," Surendra, who identified himself with his first name, said.

Five more trains bound for Delhi will leave from Patna, Bengaluru, Howrah, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, the railways said.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.