Maharashtra BJP Chief's Big Dare To Opposition Over Maratha Reservations

Amid the ongoing protests over Maratha and OBC reservation issues, Maharashtra unit BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Saturday dared the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to declare whether it will provide reservations to the Maratha community from the existing OBC quota.

He further said that the MVA should give such a written assurance in its assembly election manifesto.

"MVA should announce that it will provide reservations for the Maratha community by reducing the OBC quota. MVA should give such an assurance in its election manifesto. My challenge is that MVA's 31 MPs should announce that they will reduce the OBC reservation and give it to the Maratha community. However, MVA leaders cannot declare it as they are liars," he said at a press conference.

"The Maratha community must get reservation but it is BJP's clear stand that it should not be at the expense of OBCs. The reservation was given to the Maratha community by Devendra Fadnavis when he was the Chief Minister and it was also upheld in the High Court. However, Uddhav Thackeray could not maintain this reservation in the Supreme Court when he was the Chief Minister. However, MVA has always taken a two-pronged stand regarding reservation," said Mr Bawankule at the press conference.

His statements came days after MVA did not attend the all party meeting convened by the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to discuss the stalemate over reservation, and arrive at a consensus formula.

However, the Opposition defended its move saying that the government should address the issue citing separate meetings held by CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis with Maratha and OBC leaders without keeping them in the loop.

Mr Bawankule said that a vote for MVA candidates in the upcoming Assembly elections will harm 14 crore people of the state.

"MVA's only agenda is to disrupt the public welfare schemes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government in the state and not allow the people of the state to benefit from those schemes. If the MVA government comes to power, the grand coalition (MahaYuti) government, it will scrap various welfare schemes announced by the state government and the Centre," he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)