The Nationalist Congress Party, which shares power with Shiv Sena and Congress in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, on Tuesday took an official line that the elections to the civic and local bodies will not take place till 27 percent political reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) is restored.
Even though a number of NCP ministers have expressed their views earlier, the party at the meeting convened by party chief Sharad Pawar with the ministers took an official decision which will be briefed to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Housing Minister and NCP leader Jitendra Awhad in a tweet said, "As long as the result of OBC reservation is announced and we don't get our reservation, until then, no election will be allowed in Maharashtra".
NCP's move is crucial when the petition has been filed in the apex court with a plea that it should direct the Centre to share empirical data with the state government. This apart, the NCP and the state government in general have urged the Centre to relax the 50% quota ceiling which is necessary for OBC quota to pass a legal test.
Further, the ongoing probes by ED and CBI against NCP ministers and leaders also came up for discussion. There was a unanimous view that they were all politically motivated but it was decided to fight them legally.
Pawar asked the ministers to focus on further strengthening the party organisation in their respective districts and also in districts where they are guardian or in charge minister. Pawar further asked the ministers to reach out to various sections and bring them to the party. He also emphasised the need to increase coordination between the party and the government thereby step up implementation of slew of decisions so that they reach the eligible beneficiaries.
