15 July,2024 06:01 AM IST | Mumbai | A Correspondent
Chhagan Bhujbal, NCP (Ajit Pawar) leader; (right) Sharad Pawar, NCP (SP) chief. File pic/Kirti Surve Parade
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A day after accusing Sharad Pawar of advising Opposition leaders to skip the CM-organised all-party meeting to discuss the Maratha-OBC quota issue, senior minister Chhagan Bhujbal had an audience with the NCP (SP) president on Monday.
Bhujbal said he had urged Pawar to take the lead in resolving the quota issue that attempted to breach the state's social fabric. The unscheduled meeting raised many an eyebrow because Bhujbal had left Sharad Pawar for Ajit Pawar a year ago, and his harsh criticism of the leader, who was responsible for his rise after quitting the undivided Shiv Sena in 1991.
Bhujbal faced public wrath after saying that Pawar had stopped Opposition leaders from attending the all-party meeting and there was an attempt to create unrest in the state through the quota war. About the allegations, Bhujbal said he had just reiterated what other leaders had said in the just-concluded monsoon session of the state legislature. "I met Pawar saheb not as a minister, MLA or politician. I met him as a concerned human being. I told him about the social boycott of each other by Marathas and OBCs. I told him that he had facilitated the OBC quota in Maharashtra," he said.
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Bhujbal has been vocal in opposing the Marathas' demand for sharing the OBC quota, instead of independent reservation. He has had frequent run-ins with Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil, who wants the government to grant Marathas across the state an OBC status.
According to Bhujbal, Pawar told him that he and other Opposition leaders did not know what the CM had promised the Maratha and OBC activists who were leading their respective agitations. "Pawar saheb has assured me that he will talk to the CM in the next two days and decide what should be done at the all-party level," he added, saying that Pawar was not keeping well and resting when the two met. Later Bhujbal met his party boss Ajit Pawar as well as Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare.
