Amid the verbal sabre-rattling between Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader and Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal and Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, the former on Tuesday said the focus of the OBC community was to secure support across the political spectrum in a bid to halt the onslaught on the community’s reservation begun by Mr. Jarange-Patil’s agitation.
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‘Public awareness’
“Our objective currently is how to safeguard our reservation. We will be doing it through courts, through the government, by raising public awareness… In the [OBC] rallies that we are holding, OBC leaders from all parties, both the ruling and Opposition are coming together and speaking on the need to save OBC reservation,” said Mr. Bhujbal, a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar) faction.
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He added that the need of the hour was for the OBC leaders to harness the strength of the community. “Our focus is to stop this aggression on the rights of the OBC.I feel it is the duty of OBC leaders to harness the full strength of the community at this moment,” Mr. Bhujbal said.
Lashing out at Mr. Jarange-Patil, he said: “Who is he to challenge me? First, tell him to contest and win a gram panchayat poll.” Mocking the activist, Mr. Bhujbal said Mr. Jarange-Patil had been claiming to now fight for the reservation of the Dhangar community as well. “But it is you [Jarange-Patil] and your Maratha confederates who are decimating the quotas of various OBC communities and others like the Dhangars…you stop your agitation against us and the OBCs will be grateful to you.”
The Minister also denied there had been any discussion over his resignation revelation at the Cabinet meeting on Monday.
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Last week, Mr. Bhujbal, at a rally in Ahmednagar, had said that he had reportedly resigned from the Cabinet last November over the Maratha quota issue. However, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had clarified that Mr. Bhujbal’s resignation had not been accepted.
Meanwhile, Mr. Jarange-Patil said he remained firm on resuming his agitation from February 10 while demanding that the Eknath Shinde-led government make good its promise of granting OBC caste certificates to blood relatives of Marathas whose records proved them as Kunbis.
He said the government would have to call a special Assembly session for the Maratha quota issue and warned that it must implement the Ordinance on granting Kunbi OBC certificates before that time.
“We have several programmes that will take place in Pune, Navi Mumbai and Nashik before February 10,” said the activist, adding there was no communication from the government over the proposed agitation.