BJP set to increase its tally in Rajya Sabha from Maha; Polls on March 23

The ruling BJP is set to increase its tally from Maharashtra in the Rajya Sabha and also in the state Legislative Council, given its improved strength in the 288-member Legislative Assembly post the 2014 polls.

Elections will be held on March 23 for various seats of the Rajya Sabha, including six from Maharashtra, falling vacant on April 2.

At present, the opposition Congress and the NCP hold two seats each, while the Shiv Sena and the BJP have apiece each of these six seats of the Upper House of Parliament.
The BJP, with its tally of 122 in the Assembly, is poised to get three Rajya Sabha seats now, while the Sena, the Congress and the NCP will get one each.

Meanwhile, the biennial elections to 21 Legislative Council seats, out of the total 78, are due later this year.

Maharashtra caste clashes: Mumbai school buses to stay off roads today

School buses will stay off roads in Mumbai tomorrow in view of a Maharashtra bandh called by Dalit outfits to protest the violent clashes in Pune yesterday.

The School Bus Owners' Association (SBOA) on Tuesday said it would not operate its fleet of 40,000 buses on Wednesday

Anil Garg, president of SBOA, told PTI, "For security reasons, we have decided not to ply our buses in the first shift today. If the situation remains peaceful, we will run the buses in the second shift."

However, if a particular bus owner wanted to operate his services tomorrow, it would be his call, he added.

"Law-and-order is beyond our control. Therefore, we cannot take the risk," Garg said.

The state government has said schools will remain open today.

Dalit organisations have called a Maharashtra bandh tomorrow to protest against the BJP-led state government's "failure" to stop the violence in Pune.

Clashes between Dalit groups and supporters of right-wing Hindu organisations during the 200th anniversary celebrations of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in Pune district had left a man dead on Monday.
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Maharashtra farm loan waiver for the poor? Shiv Sena MLA a beneficiary too

Shiv Sena MLA Prakash Abitkar has claimed he was named as a beneficiary of the farm loan waiver in the Kolhapur District Central Cooperative Bank, even though he had not applied for it. He has got a loan waiver of Rs 25,000 from the bank.

This has come just a day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the scheme was being implemented smoothly. He told the state legislative assembly on Thursday that his government had committed some "mistakes" while implementing the Rs 34,022-crore farm loan waiver scheme, but has fixed all these issues.

Abitkar, an MLA from Radhanagari in Kolhapur district, has got the benefit of Maharashtra Government's loan waiver scheme for drought affected farmers.

The Shiv Sena MLA has raised the issue citing faulty implementation of the loan waiver scheme and demanded an inquiry into this flawed inclusion as the rules bar any existing or former elected representative from getting benefit under the scheme.

He said, "I was stunned when I came to know that my name appeared in the green list of loan waiver beneficiaries. I was shocked again when I got more details about the list of my (Kolhapur) area. I had not even applied or registered my name anywhere to get the waiver."

The Opposition is directly blaming Fadnavis for this as the Chief Minister Office (CMO) had been working on the data of the beneficiaries of this scheme through information and technology department of Maharashtra.
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Sena joins Congress, NCP in loan waiver demand; Maha Assembly adjourned

BMC POLLS 2017 - The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly was on Wednesday adjourned for the day without transacting any business after it witnessed noisy scenes as Shiv Sena legislators joined Opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to demand loan waiver for distressed farmers.
As soon as the House assembled for the day, Leader of Opposition, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil through an adjournment notice highlighted the plight of farmers across the state after consecutive droughts and said there was no alternative other than granting them a loan waiver.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar asked the BJP government to recall how its ministers, while in Opposition would raise farmers' woes (Read More)