M'rashtra to have spl Assembly session on Maratha quota

Amidst growing demand for reservation to the Maratha community and violent protests, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday announced that a special legislature session would be convened to resolve the issue.

The statement of Fadnavis came after a meeting with senior leaders of all political parties to discuss the issue.

“We would pass a law or a resolution,” Fadnavis said after the brain-storming session in Mumbai.

“It was decided in the meeting to request the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission to submit its report as early as possible and post that, a special session of the Maharashtra Legislature will be called for statutory compliance,” the chief minister said.

Among those who were present in the meeting include senior ministers of the BJP-Shiv Sena government - Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar, Vinod Tawde, Subhash Desai, Divakar Raote, Eknath Shinde, Girish Bapat, Ramdas Kadam, Leader of Opposition in Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (Congress), his counterpart in Council Dhananjay Munde of the NCP, former Deputy Chief Ministers Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal and Vinayak Mete.

After the meeting, the leaders also appealed to the Maratha community for peace.

The government would also try to rectify the lacunae in the earlier law (passed during the Congress-NCP rule) that granted reservations to the Maratha community and which was stayed by the Bombay High Court.

The police cases registered during the recent agitation, except those related to serious offences like assault on police personnel, violence and arson, would be withdrawn.