New Delhi: Union Science and Technology Minister and former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has been appointed by the Government to negotiate with Anna Hazare and his associates. The decision to appoint Deshmukh to start talks with Team Anna was taken after he met Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Agriculture Minister andf Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday. Deshmukh has had the experience of dealing with Hazare...
12:55 PM, Aug 23, 2011
Mumbai: Maharashtra's political fraternity on Sunday condoled the death of veteran Bollywood actor Shammi Kapoor. The 79-year-old actor was on dialysis for the last few days and was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai where he breathed his last at 5:15 a.m. Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan expressed condolences on the actor's demise, saying that Shammi was an iconic figure and a rage for...
11:53 AM, Aug 15, 2011
Mumbai: Condoling the death of veteran actor Shammi Kapoor, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday said the industry has lost an "iconic figure". The 79-year-old actor died in the morning at Breach Candy Hospital. Chavan said, "With his death, the industry has lost an iconic figure." Union Minister for Science and Technology Vilasrao Deshmukh, "Shammi Kapoor was a superstar of our era. His dance style was a rage in...
11:24 AM, Aug 14, 2011
A latest report on the Adarsh scam indicts two ex-Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan and Vilasrao Deshmukh for flouting norms. ...
01:36 PM, Aug 10, 2011
New Delhi: Sachin Tendulkar could be one step closer to receiving India's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna. Sources have said that the Prime Minister's Office will accept the Home Ministry's recommendations. The Prime Minister's office seems inclined to accept Home ministry's request to make sports a category for awarding the Bharat Ratna. This means that Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar could soon be a Bharat Ratna. The Home Ministry had spoken to...
01:01 PM, Jul 23, 2011
![Rajdeep Sardesai]( "Rajdeep Sardesai")
If politics were to mirror celluloid, then clearly our netas seem out of step. A fortnight ago, two Hindi films were released: 'Budha Hoga Tera ...
12:09 AM, Jul 15, 2011
Thane: Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who was moved from Rural Development to Science and Technology, on Tuesday likened the Cabinet reshuffle to a game of kho-kho. "It's kho-kho," he quipped when asked whether Tuesday's reshuffle is like a cricket match, referring to the popular field game. Asked by reporters whether he looked at the change in his portfolio as a demotion, Deshmukh said "getting a Cabinet berth at the Centre...
09:49 PM, Jul 12, 2011
New Delhi: Vilasrao Deshmukh on Tuesday became the fourth Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences since the formation of the UPA-II government. 66-year-old Deshmukh succeeds Pawan Kumar Bansal, who after a tenure of little over six months, has returned to his old Water Resources ministry. After Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was re-elected in May 2009, Prithviraj Chavan was appointed as the Minister for Science and Technology and Earth...
09:46 PM, Jul 12, 2011
Mumbai: Union Development Minister and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has admitted that he bent rules in the Adarsh housing society for two former army generals, Gen Deepak Kapoor and Gen NC Vij. In his affidavit before the Justice Patil commission, Deshmukh said that this was done to enable the two generals to get membership of the society and get a flat allotted. He justified the move saying it...
01:00 PM, Jun 18, 2011
New Delhi: After the ambitious NREGS, the UPA II's is attempting to reach out to rural India by giving makeover to a decade old poverty alleviation programme known as the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). With this programme UPA is hoping for a makeover, from being corruption ridden to being compassionate. Minister of Rural Development Vilasrao Deshmukh, trusted with the politically crucial rural development ministry confirms fears that the benefits ...
10:07 AM, Jun 03, 2011
New Delhi: After the ambitious NREGS, the UPA II's is attempting to reach out to rural India by giving makeover to a decade old poverty alleviation programme known as the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). With this programme UPA is hoping for a makeover, from being corruption ridden to being compassionate. Minister of Rural Development Vilasrao Deshmukh, trusted with the politically crucial rural development ministry confirms fears that the benefits...
10:07 AM, Jun 03, 2011
Mumbai: Pinning the blame on former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, suspended State Information Commissioner and Adarsh Housing Society scam accused Ramanand Tiwari has told the judicial panel, probing the case that it was Deshmukh who had approved all proposals pertaining to the high rise in South Mumbai. Tiwari, in an affidavit filed before the two-member inquiry commission, set up by the Maharashtra government in January to probe into the...
10:47 AM, May 20, 2011
Mumbai: The inquiry commission probing the Adarsh Housing Society scam has issued summons to former Maharashtra chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Ashok Chavan to appear before it as witnesses. The two-member commission, which summoned Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde last week, issued summons to Deshmukh, presently Union Minister for Rural Development, and Chavan on Tuesday. Chavan, who had to step down as the state chief minister in 2010 following the...
12:34 PM, May 11, 2011
Thiruvananthapuram: With electioneering for the Kerala polls moving to top gear, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and several other leaders are slated to visit Kerala next week to seek votes for the party-led UDF. KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala said Sonia will address UDF rallies on April 6 at Harippad, Thrissur and Kozhikode. Chennithala is the Congress candidate for Harippad in Alappuzha district. The Prime Minister would address...
01:41 PM, Apr 01, 2011
Thiruvananthapuram: With electioneering for the Kerala polls moving to top gear, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and several other leaders are slated to visit Kerala next week to seek votes for the party-led UDF. KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala said Sonia will address UDF rallies on April 6 at Harippad, Thrissur and Kozhikode. Chennithala is the Congress candidate for Harippad in Alappuzha district. The Prime Minister would address...
01:41 PM, Apr 01, 2011
Thiruvananthapuram: With electioneering for the Kerala polls moving to top gear, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and several other leaders are slated to visit Kerala next week to seek votes for the party-led UDF. KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala said Sonia will address UDF rallies on April 6 at Harippad, Thrissur and Kozhikode. Chennithala is the Congress candidate for Harippad in Alappuzha district. The Prime Minister would address...
01:41 PM, Apr 01, 2011
Mumbai: Maharashtra BJP on Tuesday demanded resignation of Union Rural Development Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Deshmukh had faced severe criticism from the bench of Justice AK Ganguly and Justice GS Singhvi of the Supreme Court last December for shielding Congress MLA Dilip Sanand's relatives who are into money-lending, and are facing criminal complaints. "The Supreme Court has criticised Deshmukh for helping MLA Sanand's money-lender father. The Congress should immediately seek Deshmukh's...
10:34 PM, Feb 08, 2011
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Government on Tuesday paid a fine of Rs 10 lakh to the state legal services authority. The fine was imposed for obstruction of police action against the money lender father of a Congress legislator. The obstruction was done allegedly at the behest of the former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. State government sources said that the fine was been paid up early on Tuesday. The Maharashtra government was...
06:50 PM, Feb 08, 2011
Rajdeep Sardesai speaks to Vilasrao Deshmukh over his elevation in the Union Cabinet. ...
12:21 AM, Jan 21, 2011
Mumbai: Just last month Vilasrao Deshmukh was pulled up by the Supreme Court for shielding private moneylenders accused of land grab in Vidarbha. While Deshmukh has defended the portfolio change, farmers and the opposition are seeing red. Vidarbha farmer Sarangdhar Singh Chavan is one of those farmers who are still waiting for justice after exploitation at the hands of moneylenders. In December, the Supreme Court held former Maharashtra chief minister...
10:28 PM, Jan 20, 2011
