Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday, paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi in Mumbai. He also participated in a cleanliness drive at Juhu Beach A video circulating on social media shows Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde driving a tractor while participating in the cleanliness drive at Juhu Beach.

The video has got 60,700 views on X(Formerly Twitter). Large number of comments started coming on the social media post. One user said this whole thing is a one day drama. Another user said this is a foolish gimmick by the chief minister.

Earlier on Thursday Shinde inspected the paddy crop damaged due to unseasonal rain at Tarsa in Nagpur district. Deputy Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis accompanied CM Shinde and Agriculture Minister Dhananjay Munde. Besides Mauda Taluka, large scale damage has been reported in Ramtek Parshivani taluka.

In Nagpur district a total of 124 villages have been affected by rain, 852 hectares of crop has been damaged Earlier on November 27, Natrionalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule urged the  Maharashtra government to help the farmers after unseasonal rains damaged crops across the state of Maharashtra.

Sule said Maharshtra is standing at a difficult turn. She said a lot of damage has been caused by untimely rains. She said everybody should start to work with sensitivity for the state and farmers. She requested the Maharashtra government to immediately call a team from Delhi, and a full inspection should be carried out.

Sule said the central government should give more funds to Maharashtra. She said wherever farmers have incurred losses, the loans should be waved off. She said she is going to present this issue in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Heavy rains on Sunday had caused heavy damage to the crops including leafy vegetables, sugarcane, tomatoes, onions and grapes.

As Sonia Gandhi, the former president of the Congress, turned 77 on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent her best wishes and prayed for a long and healthy life.

PM Modi posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said wishing Smt. Sonia Gandhi Ji a happy birthday. Wishing for a long and healthy life for her, he wrote.

Sonia Gandhi is reportedly going to celebrate her birthday in Rajasthan at a resort owned by a close friend of the family, along with her children, Rahul and Priyanka. Sher Bagh Hotel, an opulent resort close to Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, is where she would be staying. Rahul Gandhi is now in Rajasthan as part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra organised by the party.

Sonia reportedly arrived in Jaipur on Thursday as part of her four-day visit to the state. She took a helicopter from Jaipur to Sawai Madhopur. Rahul and Priyanka later joined her at the resort.

In addition to the prime minister, Mallikarjun Kharge, KC Venugopal, Shashi Tharoor, and  Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin wished the former Congress president on her birthday.

Gandhi, according to Kharge, has consistently fought for the rights of the underprivileged. A tireless defender of the rights of the underprivileged, she has faced hardship with bravery, tenacity, and unselfish sacrifice. She has also been a symbol of the highest grace. He hoped for long, healthy life.

Gandhi’s dedication to serving the public interest and elevating the underprivileged and marginalised groups in society, has won over a billion hearts, Venugopal said extending his warm wishes to her.

Shashi Tharoor said, Sonia Gandhi led the Congress with tremendous distinction and is still an example to all of its leaders and workers. The Congress leader further wished her continued health and happiness as well as continued leadership of our party and service to our country.

Stalin also wished Gandhi a long and healthy life. May her deep insight and abundance of experience continue to be a guiding light in our collective endeavour to rescue INDIA from autocratic forces, the CM wrote on X.

Meanwhile, due to health issues, Sonia Gandhi has had to step back from active politics in recent years, but she is still very important to the Congress party.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday slammed the BJP over Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra’s expulsion from the Lok Sabha after a debate on the cash-for-query allegations. She said the move was unacceptable and betrayed India’s parliamentary democracy.

Talking to the media, Banerjee said she felt sad to see the attitude of the BJP. She questioned how the BJP can betray parliamentary democracy. She said the BJP did not even allow Mahua to explain her stand in the House. She added full injustice had been done to the expelled MP.

Banerjee said the Trinamool Congress stands in full support of Moitra. She said the BJP could not defeat the Trinamool in elections, so they have resorted to vendetta politics. She said Moitra will return to Parliament with a bigger mandate. Banerjee said the BJP thought it can do whatever it wants as they have a brute majority. She added that a day will come when the BJP will not be in power.

After her expulsion from the Lok Sabha, Moitra told reporters outside Parliament that said will fight it out over the next 30 years inside and outside Parliament, inside the gutter and on the streets. She accused the BJP of hating Muslims and women. She claimed Adani was buying all of India’s ports and airports. She said Adani shareholders are foreign investors and the Home Ministry was giving them clearance to buy India’s infrastructure.

Reacting to her expulsion, Moitra said there was no evidence of any cash, any gifts anywhere. She said she had been expelled for sharing her Lok Sabha portal login. She said there are no rules governing the sharing of logins. She said tomorrow the CBI will be sent to her house and she is going to be harassed for the next six months.

Many Opposition parties have supported Moitra over the way she was expelled without getting a chance to put forth her stand.