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Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said he would quit politics if CM Eknath Shinde asserted that he was hindering the Maratha quota process, referring to allegations by activist Manoj Jarange.
Stressing that government decisions are taken collectively, Shinde defended Fadnavis and called Jarange's allegations against him baseless.
Jarange is a strident critic of the senior BJP leader and has routinely accused him of being the main obstacle in the Maratha community's quest for reservation in government jobs and education.
Jarange holds Fadnavis, also the state's home minister, responsible for the police lathi charge on Maratha quota activists in Antarwali Sarati in Jalna in August last year.
Speaking to reporters later, Shinde defended his deputy and rejected the allegations against him.
“When Fadnavis was the chief minister of Maharashtra, he had given reservation to the Maratha community. The allegations of Jarange against Fadnavis are baseless, and there is no truth in such claims. Whatever decision we take, we do it as a collective effort,” said Shinde.
Jarange has been demanding the implementation of the state government's ‘sage soyare' (blood relatives) notification to grant Marathas reservation under the OBC category. He wants Kunbi certificates to be issued to all Marathas. Kunbis, an agrarian community, enjoy OBC status in the state.
Shinde said those who have always opposed reservation for Marathas are behind the litigation against the bill passed in the assembly granting quota to the community.
“We have also given (Kunbi) certificates to the youth and provided various services and facilities. Fadnavis has played a valuable role in finalising the quota policy,” Shinde said.
However, Jarange continued his tirade against Fadnavis.
Asked about his views on Shinde defending the deputy CM, Jarange said, “After the Lok Sabha election results as well as today, Fadnavis said he would quit politics. What makes him utter such extreme words?”
Jarange claimed that the distribution of Kunbi certificates was stopped at the administrative level. “We never considered Fadnavis as our opponent, but he has been in power for so many years, and the decision (over quota) is not materialising,” he said.
This means Fadnavis has been opposing quota benefits for the Maratha community, he claimed.
The Maharashtra government in September last year had sought time to get the Hyderabad gazette (for the Kunbi records of Marathas) to make it the base document to allot Kunbi caste certificates to the community members from the state's Marathwada region.
“It has been almost 12 months but the state government has miserably failed to obtain the document. It means someone in the state government is halting the process,” he said.
Jarange also spoke about the reservation promised to Marathas through the Socially and Economically Backward Class category.
He said, “We never wanted reservation from SEBC quota, but it was thrust upon us. Because of it, we also lost our claim from the Economically Weaker Section quota given by the Union government.”