Maharashtra Assembly polls: BJP drops Eknath Khadse, fields his daughter; Vinod Tawde also ignored
Mumbai, Oct 4: The BJP on Friday released its fourth list of seven candidates for the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly polls, dropping senior leader Eknath Khadse and cabinet minister Vinod Tawde.
It fielded Eknath Khadse's daughter Rohini from his Muktainagar constituency in north Maharashtra. The decision to field Rohini Khadse indicates the BJP succeeded in placating her father, who had been representing Muktainagar since 1991.
PowerMinister Chandrashekar Bawankule, senior leaders Prakash Mehta and Raj Purohit also don't figure in the list.
The party dropped Tawde, who holds the school education portfolio in the outgoing BJP-led government, and fielded Sunil Rane from his Borivali seat in Mumbai.
Purohit, the sitting MLA from Colaba in south Mumbai, has been replaced with Rahul Narvekar, son-in-law of Ramraje Nimbalkar, the Maharashtra Legislative Council chairman.
Narvekar, a former NCP MLC, joined the BJP recently.
Parag Shah is the BJP candidate in place of Mehta, a former minister, from Ghatkopar (East) in Mumbai.
Bawankule is the sitting MLA from Kamtee in Nagpur distric.
One of the senior-most BJP leaders in Maharashtra, Eknath Khadse had been sidelined in the party following allegations of corruption and that he misused his office in a land deal.
He had to resign as revenue minister in 2016 and has not been taken back into the Cabinet by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Party sources said it was made clear to him that he would not be given ticket this time.
Khadse, 67, had filed his nomination papers from the seat this week as an Independent candidate.
The BJP has so far declared candidates on 150 seats in the state which has a 288-member assembly.
The BJP and Shiv Sena are the main constituents of the ruling alliance in Maharashtra. However, they have still not officially declared their seat-sharing formula.
The Shiv Sena has given AB (nomination) forms to more than 100 candidates.
The last date of filing nomination papers is October 4, while the date for their scrutiny is October 5. Nominations can be withdrawn till October 7.
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‘Self-styled Vishwaguru stands exposed’: Cong's dig at PM over Pak role in US-Iran ceasefire
New Delhi (PTI): Taking a swipe at the government, the Congress on Wednesday said the role played by Pakistan in bringing about the ceasefire between the US and Iran is a “severe setback” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “highly personalised diplomacy” and “the self-styled Vishwaguru stands thoroughly exposed”.
The opposition party also said Prime Minister Modi's “cowardice is demonstrated by his silence not only on Israel’s belligerence, but on the completely unacceptable and disgraceful language being used by his good friend in the White House”.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the entire world will cautiously welcome the two-week ceasefire in the West Asia conflict between the US and Israel on the one side and Iran on the other.
“The conflict had begun on February 28th with the targeted assassinations of the topmost echelons of the regime in Iran. These had started just two days after Prime Minister Modi had completed his much-trumpeted visit to Israel, a visit that diminished India’s global stature and standing,” Ramesh claimed.
PM Modi had said nothing about Israel’s "genocide" in Gaza and its aggressively expansionist policies in the occupied West Bank, Ramesh said.
“The role played by Pakistan in bringing about the ceasefire is a severe setback to both the substance and style of Mr Modi’s highly personalised diplomacy,” he said.
The policy to isolate Pakistan for its continuing support to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and to convince the world that it is a failed state has clearly not succeeded – unlike what Manmohan Singh had accomplished after the Mumbai terror attacks, Ramesh claimed.
That a bankrupt economy dependent entirely on the largesse of external donors and a broken country in so many ways was able to play such a role calls into question Modi’s strategy of engagement and narrative management, he said.
“He (Modi) or his team has also never explained why Op Sindoor was suddenly and abruptly halted on May 10th 2025 - the first announcement of which came from the US Secretary of State and for which the US President has claimed credit almost a hundred times since then,” the Congress leader said.
“There is a palpable sigh of relief everywhere. The External Affairs Minister (S Jaishankar) dismissed Pakistan as a dalal. But now the self-styled Vishwaguru stands thoroughly exposed, his self-declared 56-inch chest shrunk and shrivelled,” Ramesh said.
“His cowardice is demonstrated by his silence not only on Israel’s belligerence, but on the completely unacceptable and disgraceful language being used by his good friend in the White House,” the Congress leader added.
US President Donald Trump pulled back on his threats to launch devastating strikes on Iran late Tuesday, as the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire that includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump swerved to de-escalate the war less than two hours before the deadline he set for Tehran to capitulate to a deal or face attacks on its bridges and power plants meant to destroy the Iranian civilisation.
Trump made the dramatic announcement on Truth Social on Tuesday evening (US time) even as Democrats called for his removal over unhinged threats to wipe out the Iranian civilisation.
"Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz," the US President said in a social media post.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council said it has accepted the ceasefire and that it would negotiate with the United States in Pakistan beginning Friday. Neither Iran nor the United States said when the ceasefire would begin, and attacks took place in Israel, Iran and across the Gulf region early Wednesday.
Israel backed the US ceasefire with Iran but the deal doesn't cover fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Wednesday.
