Maratha reservation: BJP slams MVA’s attempt to drag Centre

Effects of the Supreme Court judgement that struck down Maratha reservation rattled the state politics on Thursday with PWD Minister Ashok Chavan pointing finger towards Union government, inviting sharp reaction from BJP.

Reacting over the comments made by Chavan, who also heads the cabinet sub-committee on the Maratha reservation, BJP’s state unit chief Chandrakant Patil said the MVA government can not shirk its responsibility. Chavan had claimed that after the 102nd amendment the state can not provide reservation to Maratha community.

Even after the 102nd amendment, rights of the state government on declaring a particular caste as backward are intact. Chavan is trying misguide people by saying the state has no option but to approach the centre, Patil said.

The state can always decide on formation of the backward class commission and ask to carry out study on a particular caste and its backwardness. Even during the Congress rule, such commissions have never accepted that Marathas were backward. It was Congress that deliberately avoided providing reservation to Maratha community, alleged Patil, who headed the cabinet sub-committee on same issue, during the BJP-Shiv Sena rule.

Even now, the government can form the new commission and handover the task to them. No law prevents them from doing so. The state should stop misguiding people now, said Patil.