Sharad Pawar distances himself from Manoj Jarange's movement

Mumbai: In a significant development vis-a-vis the reservation issue involving Marathas and Other Backward Classes, veteran politician and NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar distanced himself from the movement of Manoj Jarange Patil.

“There is no need to comment on it…we don’t have anything to do with it,” Pawar, a four-time Maharashtra chief minister and three-time union minister, told reporters in Nashik counting with a day-long camp of the party.

“Social unity has been the hallmark of Maharashtra since its inception,” he said on Sunday.

Pawar, a former Lok Sabha opposition leader, accused the BJP-led Maha Yuti dispensation of widening the caste divide.

Pawar also referred to the two Cabinet sub-committees on Marathas and OBCs, headed by ministers Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and Chandrashekhar Bawankule, respectively.

“The committee on Marathas headed by Vikhe Patil comprises all Maratha ministers except for Girish Mahajan while the OBC committee headed by Bawankule comprises ministers from OBC community…never before had a government committee been constituted based on caste and community," said Pawar.