Maharashtra govt shirking responsibility by blaming Centre on Maratha quota: BJP

Maratha quota stir. File Pic/PTI

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said the Maharashtra government was running away from its responsibility to ensure a quota for the Maratha community by blaming the Centre for not relaxing the 50 per cent cap.

Senior state minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan had criticised the Union government the day before for not relaxing the 50 per cent cap on reservations even as it passed a bill to reinstate the states' powers to identify a community as backward. Responding to it, state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said, "Chavan should first clarify whether he wants to give reservation to the Maratha community in educational institutes and government jobs. He seems to be busy shrugging off his responsibility by diverting attention from the core issue.

"The state government should have started the process to identify the Maratha as a backward community. Instead, Chavan has continued his tirade against the Union government," Patil said. The report of the Gaikwad commission justifying the Maratha reservation was rejected by the Supreme Court, so the state government should set up a new commission to prepare a fresh report on the backwardness of the community, said the BJP leader.

The Supreme Court in May this year quashed the reservation for the Maratha community in Maharashtra, holding it as unconstitutional.

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