Mumbai: Noisy scenes were witnessed in the Maharashtra Legislative Council on Thursday over the opposition's demand for reservation to the Dhangar (shepherd) community, prompting the chairman to adjourn the House for the day. When the House met in the morning, Congress MLC Ramhari Rupnavar accused the BJP-led state government of not pursuing the Dhangar quota issue with the Centre. He criticised the state and central governments for not providing reservation to the community, which is recognised as an other backward class (OBC) while applying for central government jobs.
In Maharashtra, the community is recognised as a nomadic tribe and constitutionally it falls under Scheduled Tribe (ST) category, he said, adding that this leads to administrative complications. Another Congress legislator Bhai Jagtap then got up and said, “It seems like someone has monopoly over the quota issue. The present government has taken more than enough time, but not taken any steps to provide reservation to the community.” Jagtap's comments irked some BJP members, including Bhai Girkar, Praveen Darekar and state minister Vinod Tawde, who stood up to raise their voice.
