BJP to form govt in Maharashtra in March, says Narayan Rane as Fadnavis, Pawar visit Delhi
Mumbai, Nov 26: Union minister Narayan Rane on Friday claimed that the BJP will form government in Maharashtra in March.
Rane's statement came on a day when state BJP leaders Devendra Fadnavis and Chandrakant Patil as well as NCP chief Sharad Pawar and his party colleague Praful Patel were in the national capital, sparking speculation.
Incidentally, the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government will complete two years on Saturday.
Fadnavis met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi, sources said.
Speaking to reporters in Jaipur, Rane said, "BJP will form government in Maharashtra in March." Asked to elaborate, he said toppling and forming governments is done in secrecy and it can not be discussed in public.
''State (BJP) president Chandrakant Patil has spoken about this and I hope it comes true,'' Rane said.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole told reporters in Nagpur that the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government will complete its full term.
"BJP keeps making big predictions and they don't come true....Nobody believes BJP,'' he said.
Sources in the BJP and NCP played down the significance of the visits of their respective leaders to the national capital at the same time. Fadnavis and Patil were in Delhi to discuss "organizational matters" with the central leadership, said a BJP leader.
Pawar traveled to Delhi to attend a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on defense and his schedule had been planned a week ago, an NCP source said. The MVA government was formed in November 2019, after Assembly elections, as the Shiv Sena walked out of its decades-old alliance with the BJP over the issue of sharing the chief minister's post.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
