Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar (L) and NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar.
Credit: PTI File Photos
Mumbai: Amid political buzz over the possible merger of NCP and NCP (SP), Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar praised his uncle, mentor and veteran politician Sharad Pawar, for women empowerment by providing them 33 per cent reservation in the local bodies in the early nineties.
Ajit said that he was then a first-term MLA.
“You won't know this….(in 1994) Saheb was the Chief Minister (heading the Congress government)…he had told us that the proceedings of the Maharashtra legislature should not be adjourned till the Bill providing 33 per cent reservation to women (in local bodies) is passed….the House went till 3.30 am in the morning…it was adjourned only after the Bill was passed…it was only after that we left home,” Ajit said in Pune.
In fact, Maharashtra laid the foundation for women’s reservation in India - when one-third of the seats in gram panchayats, panchayat samitis (tehsil level), zilla parishad (district governing bodies) and municipal bodies were reserved for women.
In 2011, when the Congress-NCP Democratic Front government was in power, the quota was enhanced to 50 per cent.
It may be mentioned, a large section of leaders and MLAs within the NCP and NCP (SP) are rooting for a merger.