Ignored for ministerial post as I am from Maratha community: NCP MLA Prakash Solanke

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Maharashtra NCP MLA Prakash Solanke has claimed he has been ignored for a ministerial berth in the state government as he belongs to the Maratha community.

Speaking to reporters in Beed on Sunday, the four-time MLA from Majalgaon also claimed Marathas have been the Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) strength in Beed district, but they are ignored when it comes to giving a cabinet or guardian minister post to a member from the community.

He was responding to a question on Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP head Ajit Pawar on Friday saying party leader and former minister Dhananjay Munde will be given an "opportunity" if he is absolved in an "inquiry" against him.

Pawar was apparently referring to the last year's Beed sarpanch murder case following which Munde, the MLA from Parli in Beed, had to quit the Devendra Fadnavis government in March this year.

Notably, Marathas, under the leadership of activist Manoj Jarange, have been agitating for reservation in government jobs and education under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota.

Asked about the speculation of Munde's return to the cabinet, Solanke claimed, "Leaders like (NCP-SP chief) Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar have always given priority to the OBC community in Beed district. The Maratha community has been an NCP supporter in Beed. But OBCs and backward communities were given preference in Beed district in the past 45 years." This is due to the party's policy of following the ideology of (social reformers) Jyotirao Phule, Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj and BR Ambedkar, he said.

But the community which gave strength to the party has been away from the post of cabinet or guardian minister. "The party should think of it," said the NCP leader, who previously served as minister of state (MoS) in the Maharashtra government.

Asked about the possibility of his inclusion in the cabinet, Solanke said whenever the cabinet is formed, various names come up for discussion, but what the party superiors think is important.

"But I think my caste comes in between me and the post of minister. I would have got a bigger chance if I would have been born in an OBC community (family). But I was born in a Maratha community family and I think it is my fault," he said.

Solanke further claimed the Maratha community in Beed district has been ignored.

"No one after Sundarrao Solanke (referring to his father) was made the cabinet or guardian minister of Beed in the past 45 years, and this is a reality," he said.

"A chance was given for the post of minister of state (apparently referring to himself when he served as MoS). The Maratha community thinks this post is a little higher than the MLA's post. In this thought process, the Maratha community has been ignored in the Beed district," the NCP leader claimed.