Maratha quota row | Maharashtra forms sub-committee for OBCs even as Chhagan Bhujbal boycotts Cabinet meet

The Cabinet sub-committee, comprising nine members, would be headed by state Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule of the BJP. Bhujbal, who is the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Minister would be a member too.

Mumbai: The vexed Maratha-vs-OBC reservation issue in Maharashtra has led to fissures in the Maha Yuti government - and it came out in open when veteran politician and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal boycotted the weekly Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

In a related development, the Maharashtra government has formed a Cabinet sub-committee to expedite socio-economic, educational welfare measures for the OBCs.

The Cabinet sub-committee, comprising nine members, would be headed by state Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule of the BJP.

Bhujbal, who is the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Minister would be a member of the sub-committee.

The development comes a day after the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP government agreed to the demands of Manoj Jarange-Patil and implement the Hyderabad Gazetteer, which for Marathwada region accepts Marathas as Kunbis enabling them reservation under the OBC besides agreeing on a time-frame of two months to examine legal issues for a blanket order of similar nature across the state.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, however, has not commented on the issue, so far.

Bhujbal attended the pre-Cabinet meeting of the NCP presided over by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

Later, he was seen walking out of the Sahyadri Guest House at Malabar Hill.

After the Cabinet meeting, the NCP leadership met at Deogiri, the official bungalow of Pawar.

Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the chief leader of Shiv Sena, said that they will meet Bhujbal and explain the position of the government. “We will speak to him, the Chief Minister will speak to him…I hope we will be able to convince him,” he added.

Bhujbal said that injustice has been meted out to the OBC by allowing Marathas to take reservation benefits. “Our organisations and leaders and workers have protested after the government’s decision. They are tearing the GR, burning the GR…we are examining the matter and would take remedial actions…we would move court against government order on grant of Kunbi certificates to Marathas…we may move court after Ganeshotsav festival,” he said.

He appealed to OBC community members to withdraw agitations in Nagpur and Antarwali Sarathi in Jalna district and break the hunger strike. “The protests should be only limited to submission of memorandums,” he said.

The 77-year-old Bhujbal, who hails from the Mali-OBC community, is the founder President of All India Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad.

Meanwhile, NCP state unit President Sunil Tatkare said that the meeting was held to assess the situation and the possible fallout of the bunch of notifications. “We will speak in a couple of days and clarify the position of the party,” he added.

In fact, before the government accepted the demands of Manoj Jarange-Patil, Bhujbal had asserted that Marathas and Kunbis are not the same and there are judgements of the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court to support his claim.

Reacting to the development, Jarange-Patil, who is recuperating in a hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar said: “That Bhujbal is unhappy means that the GR is good.”

Meanwhile, several OBC leaders have expressed reservations about the decision of the government. “The decision is anti-Constitutional and anti-people,” said Prof Laxman Hake, who heads the OBC Sangharsh Sena.

He also tore a copy of the GR of the Maharashtra government even as there were reports of protests across the state where the GRs were torn and burnt.

Besides Bawankule and Bhujbal, other members of the sub-committee are ministers Ganesh Naik, Gulabrao Patil, Sanjay Rathod, Pankaja Munde, Atul Save, Dattatreya Bharne and Secretary of Other Backward Bahujan Welfare Department’s Secretary, who will be the member secretary of the sub-committee.

“I believe that going forward, any issues related to the OBC will be addressed through this committee,” said Patil, a Shiv Sena leader.