Maratha Quota Violence: Supriya Sule Blames State Government, Home Ministry

 NCP Sharad Pawar faction leader Supriya Sule, speaking on the violence during the Maratha reservation protest, said on Friday that the violence caused was a failure of the Maharashtra government and the Home Ministry.

"The Maharashtra government and the home ministry are responsible for the violence. The way things turned out in the state was a failure of the entire Home Ministry and the Home Minister himself," said Supriya Sule.

She further lashed out at the BJP government and said, "The BJP government does 'jumlebaazi' (fake promises) and the prime example of this can be seen in BJP's fake claims of reservation to the Maratha community, the Dhangar community, the Lingayat community, and the Muslim community."

Earlier in September, a clash broke out between police and protesters when the demand for the Maratha Reservation was raised in a protest at Maharashtra's Jalna. The police had to resort to lathi charge to disperse the protesters.

The Maharashtra government received a major backlash after this move by the police in Jalna. Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis himself had to apologize for the lathi charge.

Supriya Sule also spoke to ANI on the matter of MLA disqualification in Maharashtra and said that even the Supreme Court has expressed disappointment in the behaviour of the speaker.

She said that she has no hopes from the speaker in the whole matter but she does have high hopes from the Supreme Court.

She further said, "This nation runs on the constitution, and if the speaker views the matter from the point of view of the constitution, then we will surely get justice."

The Shiv Sena split in June last year after Eknath Shinde, who was then a minister in the Uddhav Thackeray cabinet, splintered a coup within the ranks of the party and formed an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), securing the Chief Minister's post for himself.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena moved the Supreme Court, challenging the EC's move to allot the name 'Shiv Sena' and 'Bow and Arrow' symbol to the rival faction led by CM Shinde.

The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena has sought disqualification proceedings against those MLAs who joined hands with the BJP following Eknath Shinde's lead.

On being asked about the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and CBI raids across the country, the NCP Sharad Pawar faction leader, Supriya Sule, termed the BJP government as an ICE (Income Tax Department, CBI, and ED) government.

"Everyone who is against this government is targeted by ICE and once they side with them (BJP), then they are proven to be innocent," said Ms Sule.

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