Slamming the BJP-led saffron alliance Government for its failure to address the Maratha reservation issue during the last four years, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that the BJP-led Government at the Centre should take the initiative of bringing in an amendment to the Constitution to accord reservations to the Maratha community.
Talking to media persons at the predominantly Maratha belt of Kolhapur in western Maharashtra, Pawar said: “Only way to grant reservations to the Marathas is through necessary amendment to the Constitution. The ruling BJP should impress upon the NDA Government to bring about necessary constitutional amendment to facilitate grant of reservations to Marathas”.
“From my side, I promise the Government that I will take the responsibility of ensuring the cooperation in getting the Constitutional amendment passed in Parliament. This task should be accomplished without bringing in politics into the whole thing,” the NCP president said.
Earlier, Pawar slammed Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for having miserably failed in addressing the Maratha reservation issue during the last four years. “The ruling BJP had promised Marathas ahead of the 2014 Assembly polls that it would solve the Maratha reservation issue within 100 days of the party coming to power in the State”.
Pawar came down heavily on Fqadnavis and State Revenue Minister Chandrkant Patil for their recent statements and warned them against adding fuel to the fire by claiming that “some people were out to disturb the peace in the State in the garb of Maratha agitation”
Pawar dared Fadnavis and Patil to make public of the tapes of people talking about creating disturbances and riots under the pretext of the Maratha reservation agitation. “If they have recordings of such conversations, Fadnavis and Patil should make them public,” he said.
Pawar’s statement should be seen in the context of the claim made by Patil a few days ago that the state government had an audio clip in which some “big leaders” were allegedly conspiring to let loose snakes amid the devotees gathered at the pilgrim town of Pandharpur on July 23. Fadnavis had made a similar allegation earlier.