Latur: Nationalist Congress Party working president Supriya Sule on Thursday said Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was responsible for the police action on Maratha quota agitators in Jalna on September 1 and alleged the state and Union governments were not serious about reservations for various communities.
Several persons, including 40 police personnel, were injured and 15 state transport buses were set ablaze in violence that started after police sought to shift a person on hunger strike in Antarwali Sarathi in Ambad tehsil in Jalna to hospital.
"The state and Union governments are not serious about quota to Marathas, Lingayats, Muslims, Dhangars etc. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke about solving the Dhangar reservation issue in a meeting in front of our house in Baramati but he seems to have forgotten about it," she said.
"The police lathi-charged protestors in Jalna for which Fadnavis (who holds the Home portfolio in the Eknath Shinde government) is responsible. The Union government must convene a special session of Parliament to find solution to the issue of reservations," the Lok Sabha MP from Baramati said.
Addressing a press conference, Ms Sule said farmers are facing distress due to lack of rains, which has also resulted in paucity of fodder for cattle, but the government was not extending any relief.
Mocking the state government's 'shasan aplya dari' (government at your doorstep) initiative, Sule said what is prevailing is "ED and CBI (central probe agencies) at your doorstep", a reference to cases against several opposition leaders.
She claimed the Centre was afraid of the opposition bloc INDIA and, hence, had started speculation on a name change for the country.
Speaking on the situation in the NCP, she said the party had not suffered a split and Sharad Pawar continued to be its national president and Jayant Patil was state unit chief.
On July 2, Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs had joined the Eknath Shinde government.
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