Devendra Fadnavis slams MVA over ‘failure’ to restore OBC reservation
MUMBAI: Leader of opposition and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has once again trained guns against Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) over the Other Backward Class (OBC) reservation and said that the Maharashtra government failed to do what the Madhya Pradesh government did. Calling the state government a ‘killer’ of the reservation, Fadnavis said that the restoration of the OBC quota before the ensuing local body elections is unlikely unless the Supreme Court allows it to rework the pre-poll process. “The MVA government could not compile the empirical data for two-and-half years after the SC order in December 2019. Madhya Pradesh government sought my help and completed the process within the given time and has now been allowed to hold the elections with the OBC quota. MVA government could not do what the neighbouring state did. There was a conspiracy to strike down the quota,” he said. Fadnavis said that the BJP will not keep quiet unless the reservation was restored.
Meanwhile, rural development department minister Hasan Mushrif said, “The report of the Banthia commission is expected to be submitted this month-end, after which it will be handed over to the Supreme Court with the request to restore the OBC quota.”
Food and civil supplies minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal said, “Banthia commission has been doing its work. The commission has invited suggestions and objections from all the political parties. If the BJP is so concerned about the OBCS, they should approach the commission and give information to it. The reservation has not been struck down, the next elections will be held with the quota.”
The meeting was chaired by Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil and attended by the party’s national general secretary and Maharashtra in-charge CT Ravi, union minister Bhagwat Karad, senior leaders Sudhir Mungantiwar, Girish Mahajan, and Ashish Shelar among others.