गारवा Gaarva

Dedicated to the cool morning breeze that is blowing through Mumbai!

‘Losing a city’

If T N Ninan is to be believed, Thackerays are the root cause of all the ills that plague our beloved city… but if they were partners in power at centre as well as state for only 5 years, how can they responsible for ‘losing the city’? Ninan’s next logical argument will be ‘Statehood for Bombay’ like his other friends in the past… 1, 2, 3

If someone has to be really blamed... it is the Congress party! Even after 50 years of ‘creation of Maharashtra’, Congress runs away from the reality. Hence we have two Pradesh Congress Committees in the state… one for Mumbai and another one for rest of the state. And this arrangement exists only for our state… there is nothing like one committee for Bangalore and one for Rest of Karnataka! Our CM is usually from the ‘rest of Maharashtra’ and hence does not strive to do anything for the region governed by the ‘other committee’.

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Mr. Ninan... you are barking up the wrong tree!

Afzal Khan't

In a bid to revive its electoral fortune, Shiv Sena is trying to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Afzal Khan's 'Vadh’… but the State Police force is not amused… who wants a repeat of the Miraj Riots?

Marathi Food… kuthe?

Even as legendary Marathi food joints like Anantashram are calling it a day…

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A group of foodies is trying to promote 'Marathi Gourmet Cuisine'…

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even going to the extent of releasing the ‘Essential Marathi Cookbook’...

…and mind you… they have nothing to do with either of the Senas!

Gandhi meets Thackeray

सोनियाची जेजुरी

Golden hues over Jejuri on Somvati Amavasya...

... Photo courtesy 'Dainik Samana'

सांगू कसे प्रिया मी Sangu Kase Priya Me

MNS’s 'tirangi' votes are worrying Congress

Years back, Mayawati popularised the term 'Social Reengineering' when she brought together Dalit and Brahmin votes… Now Raj Thackeray’s ‘Tirangi strategy’ of getting Green (Muslim) and Blue (Dalit) votes in addition to the Saffron votes is giving Congressmen in Maharashtra sleepless nights!

‘Phyan Singh’ is not welcome!

Andu: We are lucky 'Phyan' did not ravage Mumbai!

Pandu: Phyan is not a Marathi name… that’s the reason the cyclone was not allowed in Mumbai by MNS!

Andu: Do you know the names proposed for the next 3 cyclones… Ward, Laila & Bandu.

Pandu: OK… we will allow ‘Bandu’… sounds Marathi to me!

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Raj-Adnya

'One Tight Slap'

ACTION

REACTION

Amazing SMS

The Nephew Nexus

Thackeray Sr. is irritated that Sharad Pawar has 'nurtured' his nephew Raj to cut Shiv Sena down to size… So now he has a chance to give Pawar a taste of his own medicine!

Or is it part of Pawar's own grand plan to blackmail Sonia Gandhi before the Maharashtra Government is formed?

कळत नकळत Kalat Nakalat

Arguably the most popular serial title song in Maharashtra!

MAHAPOL POWERLIST Nov 09 Edition

click on the image to see larger version

The complete list of 25 most powerful politicians is as follows -

1. Sharad Pawar (68) NCP +1
2. Raj Thackeray (39) MNS +1
3. Balasaheb Thackeray (82) SS -2
4. Ashok Chavan (50) INC +1
5. Ajitdada Pawar (49) NCP +6
6. Gopinath Munde (59) BJP -1
7. Nitin Gadkari (60) BJP +3
8. Vilasrao Deshmukh (63) INC 0
9. Chhagan Bhujbal (60) NCP -3
10. Uddhav Thackeray (48) SS -3
11. R R Patil (52) NCP +1
12. Narayan Rane (56) INC -3
13. Murli Deora (71) INC 0
14. Gurudas Kamat (51) INC 0
15. Prakash Ambedkar (51) RPI 0
16. Sushilkumar Shinde (66) INC +3
17. Praful Patel (53) NCP 0
18. Ramdas Athavale (55) RPI -2
19. Vinay Kore (37) JSP -1
20. Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil (76) INC 0
21. Vinod Tawde (45) BJP +1
22. Manohar Joshi (71) SS -1
23. Vijaysingh Mohite Patil (64) NCP -1
24. Supriya Sule (39) NCP 0
25. Devisinh Shekhawat (75) Cong New

Party Code

BJP – Bharatiya Janata Party

INC – Indian National Congress
IND – Independent
JSS – Jana Surajya Shakti

MNS – Maharashtra Navanirman Sena

NCP – Nationalist Congress Party

PWP – Peasants & Workers Party (Shetkari Kamgar Paksha)

RPI – Republican Party of India (any faction)

SS – Shiv Sena

Movement on the MahaPol ladder –
0 : Zero indicates that there has been no change in the ranking over the previous month.
+X : Plus indicates improvement in ranking over last month and ‘x’ indicates how many ranks he/ she has moved upwards.
-X : Minus indicates degradation in ranking over last month and ‘x’ indicates how many ranks he/ she has moved downwards.

To understand the methodology used for the ranking click here.

The figure in bracket indicates the age of the politician.

Analysis

• Since the inception of Mahapol Powerlist, the top 2 slots have been interchangeably occupied by only two people – Pawar and Thackeray. This continues to be the case… only this time it is a different Thackeray! Raj has now established his cognizable presence in the electoral battle and got the status of a recognized party for MNS.
• The slide of Balasaheb to #3 slot is due to 2 reasons – 1) Shiv Sena has got the least number of seats in the last 5 elections, 2) His party has lost the ‘Big Brother’ position in the alliance as BJP was able to garner more seats and has also lost the position of the major opposition party.
• Reasons for consolidation of Sharad Pawar’s power – 1) Though NCP has won lesser number of seats that the last assembly elections, its performance has improved since the Lok Sabha polls, 2) His authority to dictate terms to the Congress has not diminished.
• Announcement of Ashok Chavan as the CM designate has buoyed him to the #4 Slot.
• But the most spectacular rise in the Mahapol Powerlist is that of Ajitdada Pawar… He has climbed 6 steps in a swoop by garnering the support of 60% of the NCP MLAs. In addition, most of the successful NCP rebels are supporting him.
• Gopinath Munde’s power has eroded substantially as he was able to retain only 1 out of 6 assembly segments in his Lok Sabha Constituency. But his Bête Noire (Gadkari) has been able to consolidate his position by ensuring good performance in Nagpur area.
• Though Bhujbal will continue to be the Deputy CM, his power in his legislature party has been curtailed.
• Uddhav has been downgraded to the #10 slot as he seems to have lost the battle for the Thackeray legacy.
• Narayan Rane’s lackluster performance in the Konkan region will make sure that we won’t hear the ‘Rane for CM’ rhetoric for sometime now.
• Rashtrapati’s Pati (Devisinh Shekhawat) has proved his political mettle for the first time by ensuring victory for his son, a political novice. This victory was only possible as he was able to convert 2/3rd of the committed BJP votes in Amravati.
  

MahaPol can be directly contacted on mahapol25@gmail.com