Pawar, Athawale, Tawde set to get elected to Rajya Sabha
Mumbai (PTI): Six candidates of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, including Union Minister Ramdas Athawale and BJP leader Vinod Tawde, and opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi nominee Sharad Pawar, are set to get elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed.
On the last day of filing nominations for the March 16 elections for seven seats from Maharashtra, only seven candidates filed their papers at Vidhan Bhawan in Mumbai on Thursday.
Pawar, 85, was not present at Vidhan Bhawan owing to ill-health. His daughter and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule filed the papers on his behalf.
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Besides Athawale and Tawde, the BJP fielded Ramrao Wadkute and Maya Ivnate.
Wadkute, once considered close to Sharad Pawar during his stint in the undivided Nationalist Congress Party, hails from the Hatkar community in the Marathwada region.
He was then elected to the state Legislative council with Pawar’s support before joining the BJP.
Maya Ivnate is a former mayor of Nagpur, and has a tribal background.
The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena fielded party spokesperson Jyoti Waghmare amid speculation that former Lok Sabha member Rahul Shewale might be nominated.
From the Nationalist Congress Party, former deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar on Thursday filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections.
With this, two members of the Pawar family are set to become Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra this time.
Parth’s mother Sunetra Pawar, who is now deputy CM, is also a member of the Rajya Sabha.
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Trump’s fresh threat to bomb Iran amid reports of deal to end war
Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened Iran with more bombing if it doesn't reopen the Strait of Hormuz, amid a report that the warring sides were nearing an agreement to end the war.
US media outlet Axios reported, quoting US officials and two other sources, that the US and Iran were getting close to a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and set a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations.
The US expects Iranian responses on several key points over the next 48 hours, Axios reported, adding that nothing has been agreed yet. This was the closest the parties had been to an agreement since the war began.
"Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
"If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before," Trump said.
According to Axios, the deal would involve Iran committing to a moratorium on nuclear enrichment, the US agreeing to lift its sanctions and release billions in frozen Iranian funds, and both sides lifting restrictions around transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
It said many of the terms laid out in the memo would be contingent on a final agreement being reached, leaving the possibility of renewed war or an extended limbo in which the hot war has stopped, but nothing is truly resolved.
