The Maratha community is not backward and hence it does not require reservation in government jobs and education, a petitioner argued before the Bombay high court on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district, the activist said he would wait and see if the state government converts its draft notification on 'blood relatives' of Kunbi Marathas into law and then decide on the course of his agitation.
The expansion of the Prithviraj Chavan-led Congress-Nationalist Congress Party coalition cabinet in Maharashtra, which was scheduled on Thursday, has been put off, reportedly as the names of the new entrants are yet to be finalised. The expansion of the 11-member ministry was slated to take place at Raj Bhavan on Thursday evening but has been postponed, official sources said, adding that the swearing-in-ceremony is now likely to take place at 11 am on Friday.
Bhujbal, who has strongly opposed the demand to include the Marathas in the other backward classes category for quota benefits, said a new social system is taking shape in Maharashtra which is different from the order envisaged by prominent social reformers.
The Election Commission has called the rival factions of the NCP for a personal hearing on October 6 following a petition filed by the Ajit group claiming that he has been elected as the party's national president.
Raut was referring to the recent war of words between state ministers Chhagan Bhujbal and Shambhuraj Desai.
A Maratha community member from Dharashiv in Maharashtra, who was the first one to be given the Kunbi caste certificate in the district as part of the ongoing survey exercise, has decided to return the document to the authorities, saying he wants all Marathas in the state to be given this benefit.
Activist Manoj Jarange on Monday said he will set out on a tour of Maharashtra after the Diwali festival to meet Marathas and make them aware about the issue of reservation for the community.
A substantial number of castes and groups are already placed in the reserved category, getting about 52 per cent of reservations altogether. It would be completely inequitable to place the Maratha community in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category, it said.
Five Nationalist Congress Party and an Independent legislator, were on Tuesday sworn-in as ministers in the Maharashtra government as part of the much-awaited reshuffle.
Amid a fresh wave of protests in Maharashtra over the Maratha quota demand, authorities in Dharashiv district of the state on Wednesday started distributing Kunbi caste certificates to the eligible Maratha community members, paving the way for their inclusion in the OBC category.
The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday decided that Kunbi caste certificates will be issued to those Marathas hailing from the Marathwada region who possess revenue or education documents from the Nizam era that recognise them as Kunbis, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said.
The Maharashtra police has so far registered 141 cases in connection with the violence during the Maratha quota agitations and arrested 168 persons, state Director General of Police Rajnish Seth said on Wednesday.
He also said Shiv Sena, led by Shinde, and BJP will fight all elections together, which was discussed during their meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi.
In the second such exercise in four days, the Prithviraj Chavan led Congress-Nationalist Congress Party ministry in Maharashtra was expanded on Monday with the induction of two Congress ministers.
The meeting came days after Shinde denied that his Shiv Sena MLAs were uncomfortable with the inclusion of Ajit Pawar and 8 NCP leaders.
However, Shiv Sena spokesperson and MLA Sanjay Shirsat on Tuesday claimed Ajit Pawar-led NCP joining the Sena-BJP government is as per a larger strategy ahead of the Lok Sabha and assembly polls scheduled next year.
Maharashtra cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal has demanded a stay on the Kunbi caste certificates issued to Marathas following their latest agitation for reservation and scrapping of the Justice (retired) Sandeep Shinde committee formed over the quota issue.
Jarange, whose hunger strike at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district for reservation for the community in government jobs and education entered 12th day, also rejected the fresh outcome of talks held with a delegation of Maratha community leaders and the government late on Friday night in Mumbai.
Former Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, whose suspension from Congress was revoked recently, was today inducted into the over two-month-old Ashok Chavan led Congress-NCP ministry.
'When the chief minister saw how Manoj Jarange Patil had successfully held the state government hostage to his whims, Eknath Shinde knew he had a very clear chance of enamouring himself to these Maratha agitators by accepting Patil's demands.'
He said the RPI-A will also demand tickets to contest at least two Lok Sabha seats (out of the total 48 in Maharashtra) and 10 to 15 assembly segments in the 2024 elections from the NDA quota.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Chandrakant Khaire on Monday said the Congress cannot stake claim to the Aurangabad constituency in Maharashtra for the next Lok Sabha polls as Shiv Sena (undivided) had won this seat multiple times in the past.
BJP sources said a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance is expected to take place soon to highlight its growing strength and to dispel the impression that the departure of some of its oldest allies such as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal and the Janata Dal-United have the left the saffron party without a major partner.
Ajit Pawar has the support of more than 40 MLAs of the NCP, according to sources citing a letter submitted to Raj Bhavan.
"Whoever is eligible according to them will be inducted into the cabinet. I have no stand about it. I try to do my politics by maintaining my pride," she added.
He said Shinde has already made it clear his faction is not interested in staking claim to the Shiv Sena Bhavan or any property linked to the Thackeray group.
Faced with in-house demand for change of leadership, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Monday said he will expand his cabinet soon.
Bhujbal said Sharad Pawar announced support to the BJP in 2014 after it formed government following the Assembly polls without the Shiv Sena's backing.
Newly-inducted minister Sanjay Rathod, who also served as a minister in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led state government, had resigned last year after he was linked to a woman's death in Pune.
The 'Maharashtra Gau Seva Aayog' (Maharashtra Commission for Cow Service) will supervise the rearing of livestock and assess which of them are unproductive and rendered unfit for milking, breeding, and carrying agricultural works etc, said the animal husbandry department official.
Aaditya said the state had a "temporary" CM as the Shinde government was bound to fall soon.
The MNS, which has one MLA, had backed the Bharatiya Janata Party in the last month's elections to the Rajya Sabha as well as state Legislative Council seats.
All the Shiv Sena rebels who had resigned as ministers of the previous MVA government to join the Shinde camp were inducted into the new cabinet on Tuesday.
The delegation told Shinde that Samata Party was an old political outfit from Bihar and 'mashaal' (flaming torch) was its election symbol.
State chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has said that he would be meeting party chief Sonia Gandhi to finalise the ministers' list.
Currently, CM Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis are the only members of the cabinet.
The Sena now has four cabinet ministers, including CM Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, Anil Parab, and Subhash Desai. Barring Aaditya, the rest three are MLCs.
"White-collar" crimes like this harm the country's economy and it can not ignore the statement of dismissed police officer and accused-turned-approver Sachin Waze in the case, the court said.
Keeping patience is the need of the hour, Sena MP Krupal Tumane
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