Mumbai: The Eknath Shinde government of Maharashtra is trying to corner Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar over the OBC and Maratha reservation. The Maharashtra CM had called an all-party meeting to discuss the issue and asked the opposition parties to clear their stand on the issue in writing. However, the opposition parties did not attend the meeting.
The reservation issue was one of the biggest factors behind the debacle of BJP-led Mahayuti in the Lok Sabha elections. Maratha activist Manoj Jarange has demanded reservation in the OBC category, which has been opposed by the OBC outfits as well as all political parties. However, the Maratha community is believed to have voted for Maha Vikas Aghadi and against the BJP-led alliance over the reservation issue.
The legislators from the treasury bench raised the issue in the state legislature on Wednesday after which both Houses were adjourned for the day.
Mr. Shinde on Tuesday evening called an all-party meeting on the issue of the OBC-Maratha reservation controversy. The opposition parties did not attend it. In addition to this, the opposition alleged that the ruling parties have created a rift between the Marathas and OBCs.
After the question hour in the Upper House of the state legislature, BJP legislator Praveen Darekar raised the issue of all-party meeting and criticised the opposition. Members from the opposition benches objected to it and came to the well. In response to it, the members of the treasury benches also came to well.
Pandemonium was also witnessed in the Lower House of the state legislature, as the BJP MLAs criticised the opposition parties. The BJP legislators also raised slogans in the well of the House. As a result, the House was adjourned four times and subsequently, it was adjourned for the day.
Raising the issue in the Lower House, BJP legislator Ameet Satam said that the opposition parties are playing politics over the quota issue. Mr. Satam also demanded an SIT to probe about an MLA, who had created a tension between Marathas and OBCs.
BJP legislator Ashish Shelar said that the opposition should make its stand clear whether the Marathas should be given reservation under OBC or not.
Without taking the name of NCP founder Sharad Pawar, state minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said that despite being the CM for four times, he did not take a stand for Maratha reservation.
Vijay Wadettiwar, Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative assembly, said that the BJP-led Mahayuti government does not want to solve the issue. “We are exposing the corruption and misdeeds of the government. Therefore, the ruling party members are creating pandemonium in the house in order to divert attention,” he said.
