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The Maharashtra crisis peaked with 37 Shiv Sena MLAs of the Eknath Shinde faction writing to the Governor and Deputy Speaker, naming him the legislature party leader and completely sidelining Uddhav Thackeray in the party founded by his father.

Shinde's explosive move comes shortly after Team Uddav Thackeray fought back, filing disqualification applications for 12 rebels with the Deputy Speaker, which may help tweak the numbers in the Assembly in case of a trust vote. Eknath Shinde has argued that the application is illegal.

"Who are you trying to scare? We know your make-up and the law too! According to the 10th Schedule to the Constitution (Schedule) the whip is for assembly work, not for meeting. There are numerous Supreme Court decisions in this regard," tweeted Eknath Shinde. The Sena had threatened MLAs who skipped a legislature party meeting called by Uddhav Thackeray On Wednesday with disqualification.

NDA presidential nominee Droupadi Murmu, who will file her nomination papers on June 24, is comfortably placed with JD(U), one of the key constituents of the alliance, and BJD extending support to her to become the first tribal to occupy the top constitutional post.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, who is visiting the Vatican where he met the Pope, on Wednesday urged all elected lawmakers from the state to vote for Murmu. BJD sources said the party is likely to be present during the nomination process, while a party MP may also be a proposer.

Chances of division in the NDA rank over the nomination of Droupadi Murmu as the presidential candidate were also

Droupadi Murmu, former Jharkhand Governor, is set to be elected as the next President, the first tribal woman to occupy the highest post in the country.

From the Santhal community in Odisha, 64-year-old Murmu was named the Presidential nominee of the BJP-led NDA Tuesday night, hours after former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha was declared the joint nominee of major Opposition parties including the Congress, TMC and NCP.

Murmu's election is almost certain given that the numbers are heavily stacked in favour of the ruling NDA. Her candidature, announced by BJP president J P Nadda following a meeting of the party's parliamentary board, appeared to have put some of the Opposition parties in a spot, especially the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) which draws its electoral strength from tribal votes.

Amid countrywide protests against the Centre’s new Agnipath military recruitment scheme, the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force are likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, sources said.

The three service chiefs, according to sources, will meet the prime minister separately and brief him on the Agnipath scheme, which was unveiled last week.

The scheme was announced by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on June 14 in the presence of the three service chiefs. “The scheme will increase employment opportunities and aim to create a youthful profile of the armed forces. The ‘Agniveers‘ will be given a good pay package and an exit retirement package after four years of service,” Rajnath Singh had said at a press conference during the launch.

The defence ministry on Sunday said there would be no rollback of the 'Agnipath' recruitment scheme in the wake of widespread protests witnessed over the past few days in several parts of the country.

The agitation seemed to have subsided during the day, even as a Bharat Bandh call for Monday kept the administration and security forces on the guard, while train services remained in several places hit in view of security concerns. The Congress said that lakhs of its workers would continue its agitation over the issue across the country on Monday.