Uddhav meets PM on Maharashtra’s issues

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and discussed the Maratha reservation issue, pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation to the state, and a proposed Mumbai Metro car shed that has been hit by a controversy . This was Thackeray’s second visit to Delhi after taking over as the chief minister of the state in 2019.

Deputy chief minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar and Congress leader Ashok Chavan accompanied Thackeray on the visit. While the delegation met the Prime Minister, Thackeray also had a one-on-one interaction with Modi.

“Issues related to the Maratha reservation, Metro car shed, GST compensation were discussed with the Prime Minister. There were 12 issues that were discussed,” the Maharashtra CM said after the meeting. The Prime Minister’s Office did not issue a statement on the meeting.

He said PM Modi assured them that he would look into the issues. “We, all three, are satisfied (with the meeting) because during our meeting there was no political agenda. Whatever issues we raised, he listened to us. I believe there could be some way out,” Thackeray said.

Pawar said the delegation also asked Modi to direct Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari to approve the nomination of 12 members to the state legislative council, as decided by the state cabinet. He said this has been pending for eight months.

The delegation met the Prime Minister for more than one-anda-half hours at his official residence in the Capital. The most important issue which was raised during the meeting was related to reservation for the Maratha community in government jobs and education, and political reservation given to Other Backward Classes in local self-governance bodies. The

state government has requested the Centre to accord the reservation to Marathas from the central quota and facilitate legal provisions to remove the 50% ceiling on the reservation.

Reservation breaching the 50% limit will create a society based on “caste rule”, held the Supreme Court in May as it quashed a 2018 Maharashtra law providing quotas for Marathas in jobs and education while also refusing to consider scrapping the 50% ceiling. About three weeks later, Maharashtra allowed Marathas to avail reservation under the Economically Weak Section (EWS) category to accommodate around 6,000 people from the community in government service. “The Centre has already filed a review petition in the Maratha reservation ruling, challenging the apex court’s verdict that the state governments do not have powers to decide the backwardness of any community after the 102nd constitutional amendment in 2018. We requested the Centre that empowering the states with the powers to decide the reservation would not be sufficient until the cap of 50% on the reservation was removed. We have requested the Centre to take legal steps to remove the cap as it has affected not only Marathas but many other reservations, including the political reservation to the OBCs,” Thackeray said.

The Maharashtra law was passed in 2018 after months of violent agitation by the influential Maratha community, which makes up 32% of the state. In 2019, the Bombay high court upheld the law but trimmed the quantum of quota, prompting several groups to approach the apex court.

The leaders also discussed the Metro car shed, a contentious political issue between the Centre and Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government wants to move the Metro car shed to Kanjur. The state and the central government claim the land as theirs and the matter is currently pending in court.

The previous Devendra Fadnavis-led government in the state decided to construct the Metro car shed in Aarey, but the move triggered widespread protests by environmentalists and political leaders. After coming to power, the Thackeray-led government announced the decision to shift the car shed to Kanjur. Pawar, who is also the finance minister of Maharashtra, said the GST compensation issue was also raised. “We have also requested the PM for the quick release of the dues of ₹24,306 crore towards the compensation of losses of GST to the state exchequer,” he said. “The state is battling a coronavirus pandemic and this will have an impact on its revenue and the compensation amount should be given at the earliest.”

On the damage caused by Cyclone Tauktae along the western coast of the country, Thackeray said NDRF parameters that decide on the compensation should be changed. The state, he said, should get compensation according to the new parameters.