The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced on Sunday that it will extend support to the agitation for reservation to Maratha community. The party has announced a committee that will be headed by the state unit chief Chandrakant Patil.
The decision to support the agitation was taken in the first meeting of the new committee which was chaired by Chandrakant Patil and attended by its members- leader of opposition in State council Pravin Darekar, ex-minister & MLA Ashish Shelar, Vinayak Mete of Shiv Sangram and Narendra Patil, ex-chief of Annasaheb Patil and state BJP secretary Shrikant Bharatiya. This committee has been formed to work for the cause of the reservation.
“The community members feel isolated after the Supreme Court judgement that struck down the state legislation. There is sense of alienation among the organizations fighting for the reservation. But BJP has decided to extend full support for the cause," Patil said after the meeting. “We will keep the identity of the agitation intact and will not use the party flag during the agitation," he said.
The state government has failed to protect the reservation and put up a strong legal fight at the SC which becomes evident with certain references from the judgement, Patil said announcing a committee of legal experts to study the judgement and expose the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. “The government is resorting to extending the period of lockdown again and again just to suppress the agitation," he alleged.
The state should approach the SC with a demand to approve Maratha community as backward with enhancing the limit of 50 per cent reservation, said the party chief.
Meanwhile, BJP’s announcement of support for the agitation comes on the backdrop of an appeal by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for maintaining calm and peace on the eve of the SC judgement.
