A day after his son Parth Pawar tweeted about approaching the apex court on the Maratha reservation issue, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has distanced himself from it, saying that it was not the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) stand. "My sister Supriya Sule (who is also the party member of the parliament (MP)) has already spoken clearly about it and we have also said that this is not NCP's stand," he clarified in a bid to avoid further controversy.
The DCM, however, said every community, including Maratha and Dhangar, that deserves reservation in jobs and education should get it.
“Every time someone tweets, I am questioned. But that is not my only business. I have several other responsibilities in the state," said Pawar, when repeatedly asked about Parth Pawar's tweets. He said everyone is free to think what they want and tweet on any subject. "My sister Supriya Sule has already made our stand clear and that is NCP's stand also. Be it Maratha, Dhangar, or any other community, everyone should get their rightful reservation," he said.
Terming the ‘suicide’ of a Maratha youth from Maharashtra's Beed as ‘tragic’, Parth Pawar had tweeted he will file an intervention application before the Supreme Court over the quota issue.
Anguished by the incident, Parth, in a series of tweets, had said he was devastated to hear about the ‘tragic death’ of the youth and urged leaders of the Maratha community to wake up and fight for the quota cause before a chain reaction of such ‘unfortunate’ incidents starts. He had also said he would approach the Supreme Court as an intervener in the Maratha quota case.
The Supreme Court last month stayed implementation of the 12 per cent Maratha quota in education and 13 per cent in government jobs and referred the case to a larger bench.