Cong, Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) to jointly contest Maharashtra polls: Pawar
Pune (PTI): NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said his party, Congress, and the Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray will jointly contest the Maharashtra assembly polls, due in October this year.
Addressing a news conference here, Pawar also said it is the moral responsibility of the major opposition parties in Maharashtra to protect in the state assembly polls the interests of smaller allies, which were part of the coalition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The NCP (SP), Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT) are constituents of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which was in power in the state from November 2019 till June 2022 before the collapse of the Thackeray-led government.
Pawar said the opposition will keep a collective face before the people of Maharashtra.
There is need for a change in the state and it is the moral responsibility of the opposition coalition to discharge it, Pawar said.
"As Arjuna's target (in the epic Mahabharata) was an eye (of a fish), our eyes are all set on the elections in Maharashtra. The Congress, NCP (SP) and Uddhav Thackeray's Sena (UBT) will jointly contest the Vidhan Sabha polls," he said.
The former Maharashtra chief minister said talks on seat-sharing in the state have not begun, but will commence soon.
The people gave a good response to the NCP (SP), Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he noted.
"But like these three parties, the Left parties, Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) were also a part of the coalition but we could not give them seats in the Lok Sabha. It is our moral responsibility to protect the interests of these parties," he said.
"So the efforts will be to go ahead with them (in the state assembly polls)," Pawar added.
Asked about the state budget presented on Friday by the Eknath Shinde government, the NCP (SP) chief said, "What happens if you go with an empty pocket in a market? It's a matter of a few days, reality will be seen soon."
A monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 to women in the 21 to 60 age group, three free LPG cylinders a year for households, farmer-friendly steps and a stipend of Rs 10,000 per month to youths for skill training were highlights of the Maharashtra government's budget for 2024-25 presented on Friday, four months ahead of the state polls.
Asked if he will participate in the Wari (pilgrimage) 'palkhi' procession which began here on Friday, Pawar said, "The palkhi travels to Pandharpur from my village in Baramati (in Pune district). I will welcome the Wari procession in Baramati."
The 'palkhis' (palanquins) carrying the footprints of revered saints Tukaram and Dnyaneshwar Maharaj set out from Pune's Dehu and Alandi, respectively, to Pandharpur in Solapur district over the last two days.
They will reach Lord Vitthal's temple in Pandharpur on the occasion of Ashadhi Ekadashi on July 17.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday said the state government will send a proposal to United Nations agency UNESCO for world heritage nomination for the annual Pandharpur 'wari' which has a tradition of 1,000 years.
He said the government will also set up a separate corporation to provide facilities to devotees of Lord Vitthal (called warkaris), who undertake the annual pilgrimage from Alandi and Dehu in Pune district to the Vitthal-Rukmini temple in Pandharpur.
The Deputy CM also said the government has decided to provide a sum of Rs 20,000 per 'dindi' (group of devotees) of the pilgrimage from this year. An allocation of Rs 36.71 crore has been made for this in the budget.
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MP cruise boat tragedy: Search ops expanded to trace four missing passengers
Jabalpur (PTI): Army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday expanded their search at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh to locate a man and three children still missing after the cruise boat tragedy that claimed nine lives two days ago, officials said.
With 28 of the 41 identified passengers onboard the ill-fated cruise boat rescued safely, police are preparing to register an FIR in connection with the accident that occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur district on Thursday evening, they said.
The search radius has been expanded to 5 km in the backwaters of the Bargi Dam, located downstream of the Narmada River, area sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.
Nine people drowned in the incident, while 28 were rescued, and efforts are ongoing to trace the missing persons, he said.
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According to the police, more than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, began the search operation at 5 am on Saturday to trace Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, his son Tamil (5), Vijay Soni (6) and Mayuram (5).
Mishra said that an inquest case has been registered and the post-mortem of nine deceased persons has been completed.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will soon register an FIR," he said.
Investigators have said that CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the ill-fated boat, and the names of 41 persons, who boarded the vessel, have been ascertained so far.
Collector Raghvendra Singh confirmed that a search is underway for four missing persons.
The rescue operation, being carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local divers, was briefly affected around 9 am due to strong winds.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members after survivors alleged negligence and safety lapses, including failure to provide life jackets.
The government also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, sank during a sudden storm around 6 pm on Thursday, and the wreckage was retrieved from the dam water on Friday, after the rescuers confirmed that there were no more bodies inside.
Eyewitnesses have said that strong winds made the water choppy, prompting passengers to raise an alarm and ask the crew to steer the vessel towards the riverbank.
A survivor alleged negligence by the crew and described a last-minute scramble for life jackets.
