Sharad Pawar will take call on leadership of NCP (SP) state unit: Jayant Patil
Kolhapur:
Sharad Pawar
will shortly announce changes in the state party unit's leadership, said Jayant Patil, the current state unit chief of NCP (SP) on Wednesday.
During his address in Sangli, Patil mentioned submitting his resignation at the party's foundation day celebration, having served as state president for seven years, suggesting a leadership transition.
"I proposed to resign because I want the new leaders to take the reins with new zeal, tour the state, and help the party grow. I toured the state two to three times entirely in the last seven years and was there multiple times in the tehsils where we contested. I requested my party president to consider the proposal, and he said that he will. I hope he makes the decision soon," said Patil.
On Hindi language in school
Patil said no one in Maharashtra will want the imposition of Hindi.
"It is okay to make Marathi and English compulsory, but Hindi should not be made compulsory. If govt has thought to make Hindi optional, I think there should be no issue with it and no need to oppose it," added Patil.
BJP's political strategy
Discussing BJP's approach towards opposition politicians, Patil highlighted a pattern where BJP first levels accusations against politicians, creates difficult situations for them, and subsequently welcomes them into the party.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
It's Affordable and Actually Works
www.telidesk.com
Undo
He noted that previous allegations are forgotten, offering these politicians fresh opportunities. He referenced specific instances, including Sudhakar Badgujar's case.
Congress legacy and ideology
Commenting on former Congress functionary Jayashri Patil's departure, who comes from Vasantdada Patil's family, Jayant Patil reflected on the strong ideological commitment of past politicians like Yashwantrao Chavan, Vasantdada, and Patangrao Kadam. "From Yashwantrao Chavan to Vasandada to Patangrao Kadam, many stalwarts who grew alongside the Krishna river's banks were strong in the ideology they chose, whatever the political situation in the country.
They worked with the ideology firmly embedded in their public service. I had hoped she would keep moving on that path, but it seems the situation has changed, which might have influenced her decision to switch to BJP."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
15 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Threats by criminal gangs: Haryana struggles to garner revenue from liquor-vend auctions as bidders dry up
With the shadow of criminals looming large over the liquor trade in the state, the BJP led Haryana government faces the challenge of accomplishing its excise revenue target of ₹14,063.91 crore from the sale of liquor for 2025-26 financial year. Even after completion of five rounds of bidding, liquor contractors in 20 districts, reeling from a recent killing and threats by criminal gangs, have shown reluctance to bid for 260 pending retail liquor zones. The reserve price of the pending 260 zones is about ₹3,980 crore. The June 13 killing of a liquor contractor in Kurukshetra by gangsters, indiscriminate firing at a liquor vend in Rohtak on May 26 where the assailants threatened the contractor not to participate in the bidding for allotment of liquor vends for 2025-27, opening of fire outside a liquor vend on April 8 in Yamunanagar have left liquor contractors petrified and thus affected the business sentiment. So far, the state government has been able to allot 934 retail liquor zones across 22 districts. Each zone consisted of a liquor vend each for selling Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) and country liquor. Chief minister asks DGP to take action against gangsters Chief minister Nayab Saini on Tuesday evening held a high-level review meeting to assess the law-and-order situation in the context of the setbacks during the excise auctions. The chief minister expressed concern over the killing of a liquor contractor in Kurukshetra and directed the director general of police (DGP) to act firmly. The DGP was also asked to take steps to provide security to everyone who gets threats and extortion calls. The chief minister, it seems, realises that a shortfall in the excise duty receipts will adversely affect execution of BJP's poll promise of providing monthly financial assistance of ₹2,100 to every woman in the state under the Lado Lakshmi Yojana. The pre-poll pacifier is likely to cost the state exchequer anything between ₹17,640 crore to ₹23,940 crore. Bijender, uncle of the deceased liquor contractor, Shantanu and a partner in the family's liquor business said that they received calls from criminals who threatened them not to participate in the bidding for liquor vends in Yamunanagar. 'Our partner, Mahender Rana also received such threat calls,' he said. Bijender told HT that his nephew, Shantanu had also received threat calls from gangsters last year. 'He had applied for an arms licence about six months back. The application is still pending with the office of SP, Kurukshetra,' he said. 'Shantanu was asked not to bid for a retail liquor zone in Kurukshetra last year. The gangsters said that they wanted a particular individual, one of their own probably, to get that retail liquor zone allotted. So, we did not participate. But the person who got that zone allotted was never investigated by the police,' said a member of the family of the deceased. Most of the liquor contractors HT spoke to preferred not to be named fearing reprisal by the gangsters. A contractor who was allotted vends in a national capital region (NCR) district said that it was primarily due to huge financial investment and fear of criminals that the contractors are disinclined to take risks by participating in bidding. 'The area of our operation is still trouble free. So, we took a calculated risk,' he said. 'Many contractors are so scared of the threats that they do not even want to report the matter,' said another contractor Excise officials told HT that 794 retail liquor zones were allotted in the first round of bidding from May 26 to May 31. In the second round of bidding from June 3 to June 6, 103 zones were allotted. 'But only 29 zones could be allotted in the third round on June 9, only two zones in the fourth round on June 10 and six zones were allotted in the fifth round on June 13,' said an official expressing dismay at the turn of events. Statistics tells a different story Excise officials, however, said they expect that the pending 260 retail liquor zones will also get allotted. An official spokesperson on Tuesday said the state government has been able to auction majority of the excise zones (934) so far and secure significantly higher revenue of ₹11,054 crore as compared to last year's ₹5,037 crores. 'The excise auctions have so far attracted good response,' the spokesperson said. However, liquor trade analysts said that it is irrational to compare the licence fee realised for 2025-27 policy with the revenue receipts earned from licence fee of corresponding zones in 2024-25. 'The present policy is applicable for 21 months and 20 days starting from June 12, 2025 to March 31, 2027 and the licence fee of ₹11,054 crore earned in the five rounds of auctions is for the same period spread over two financial years. So, this amount cannot be compared with the 2024-25 revenue earned from licence fee which was for a 12-month period. The ₹11,054 crore earned so far as licence fee will be paid in monthly instalments over 21 months,'' said a trade analyst not willing to be quoted. The excise policy lays down that 91% of the bid money shall be payable by the successful contractor in monthly instalments. Sensing the difficult situation, the state government had on May 20 amended the 2025-27 excise policy approved by the Council of Ministers on May 5 to ease the bidding process. The amended policy relaxed the stipulation of depositing 15% of the bid money or licence fee as security fee by reducing it to 11%.
Hindustan Times
20 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
The attacks in Minnesota reflect a worrying trend
THE JUSTIFICATIONS vary, but the examples are legion. In December in Florida, local politicians faced threats over housing developments. Police shot a Montanan in March after she brandished a gun at a judge. A police chief in North Carolina retired in May after getting violent threats over the death of a police dog. Threats of political violence are becoming more common. The Capitol Police investigated more than 9,000 made against members of Congress last year. It is still vanishingly rare, though, that such threats are acted on. On June 14th Melissa Hortman, the speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, and Mark Hortman, her husband, were murdered in their home outside Minneapolis. The gunman injured another state legislator and his wife, went to the homes of others and had a long list of possible targets, including Democratic members of Congress and Planned Parenthood clinics. The next day Vance Boelter, who is 57, was arrested and charged with murder. He has not yet entered a plea. Any motivations remain somewhat unclear: according to the complaint, Mr Boelter texted his family that he had gone 'to war'. But police have not found 'a Unabomber-style manifesto', Joe Thompson, the prosecutor, said at a press conference. 'His primary motive was to go out and murder people.' This sort of political violence is becoming as unsurprising as school shootings. In 2022 a man broke into the home of Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the federal House of Representatives, and attacked her husband with a hammer. The same year an armed man went to the home of Brett Kavanaugh, a Supreme Court justice, planning to murder him. Earlier this year Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, was the victim of arson. And, of course, last year Donald Trump was twice targeted by gunmen. State and local politicians are especially vulnerable. More than 40% of state legislators have been threatened or attacked in the past three years. Survey data suggest it is becoming more common. Statehouses, where legislatures sit, are the front line of the culture wars. Kelly Cassidy, a state representative in Illinois, has said she avoids leading gun-control bills because 'my kids were too little, the threats were too common and too on-point'. State lawmakers' addresses are often available online (the homes of the victims of the attacks in Minnesota were listed on official websites). Their offices are easily accessible, too. Unlike many corporate workplaces where interlopers may be blocked by turnstiles or security desks, 'Most of the district offices are like strip malls and so it's direct access to the public,' one Florida state representative, Anna Eskamani, told researchers. Whereas high-ranking members of Congress or cabinet members may have security details, local politicians rely on nearby police or pay for their own extra security. Many harassers remain anonymous. But researchers have managed to collect some data. Whereas most crimes are committed by young men, those who threaten public officials are noticeably more middle-aged, with roughly two-fifths over 38. Lilliana Mason, who researches political violence at Johns Hopkins University, reckons that older folk are 'sitting at home being fed misinformation all day'. Lessons can be gleaned from the bullies' targets, too. More Republican than Democratic state legislators say abuse has got worse. Experts theorise that much of this comes from their own voters. One moderate Republican state legislator told researchers at the Brennan Centre, a non-partisan law and policy institute, that anti-abortion activists made death threats against her children. Harassment 'doesn't need to be [physical] for it to have really significant impacts on political participation and civic engagement', says Roudabeh Kishi, who studies political violence at Princeton University. Almost half of local officials questioned in her team's surveys say they are less willing to work on controversial topics. Two-fifths were less willing to run for re-election. Persuading people to run in down-ballot races is already a challenge. Salaries and status are modest: state lawmakers earn just $51,750 a year in Minnesota. Some changes are being made in the aftermath of the attacks there. North Dakota has removed legislators' home addresses from their biography pages. The Wisconsin and New Hampshire statehouses are increasing security. Some improvements can be simple, like training Facebook-loving local politicians to avoid inadvertently revealing too much personal information. But bigger changes will require a cultural shift. Being a state legislator is 'supposed to be a somewhat boring job, we didn't need to ask them to be heroes', sighs Ms Mason, the researcher. 'Increasingly they feel like they have to be.' Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines to 100 year archives.
Time of India
22 minutes ago
- Time of India
Supreme Court warns governments against invoking stringent laws as tool of harassment
Representative Image NEW DELHI: Cautioning govts not to invoke stringent laws like UP Gangsters Act "as an instrument of harassment or intimidation, particularly where political motivations may be at play", Supreme Court has quashed an FIR lodged under the Act against people taking part in a demonstration after a communal flare-up arising out of a controversial social media post targeting a religious group, reports Amit Anand Choudhary. It said the accused were arrested and booked under various provisions of IPC for vandalising a shop owned by a person who had put an "incendiary" social media post. Supreme Court said the accused were arrested and booked under provisions of IPC for vandalising a shop and there was no need for lodging a second FIR against them by invoking Gangsters Act six months after the incident. Noting the stringent law was invoked 13 days after an accused's daughter-in- law filed nomination for chairmanship of Nagar Panchayat Khargupur (UP), a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said, "This timing lends credence to their contention the Act may have been weaponised for extraneous considerations. " Allowing the plea of Lal Mohammad and other accused, the bench said the Act was enacted to combat organised gang-based crime and dismantle criminal syndicates, and invoking the law "based on a single incident of communal violence... is a significant departure from its legislative purpose". It said mere involvement of the accused in a demonstration after the communal flare-up, however serious, did not transform the participants into a 'gang' without evidence of organised and continuous criminal activity. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like What She Did Mid-Air Left Passengers Speechless medalmerit Learn More Undo "The constitutional guarantee of personal liberty acquires even greater significance when extraordinary legislation with stringent provisions, such as UP Gangsters Act, is invoked. While the state has broad discretion in criminal prosecution, this discretion must be exercised judiciously, based on relevant considerations, and in conformity with the statutory purpose. The power conferred upon the state cannot be wielded as an instrument of harassment or intimidation, particularly where political motivations may be at play," said Justice Mehta, who penned the judgment. "It is a cardinal principle of criminal jurisprudence that extraordinary penal provisions, particularly those that substantially abridge regular procedural safeguards, must be invoked based on evidence that meets a threshold of credibility and substantiality. The materials relied upon must establish a reasonable nexus between the accused and the alleged criminal activity, demonstrating actual probability of involvement rather than mere theoretical possibility. When a statute creates serious fetters on personal liberty, the evidentiary foundation for its invocation must be commensurately strong, supported by concrete, verifiable facts rather than vague assertions."
