CM Fadnavis decides to call all-party meeting to discuss Maratha agitation

Under pressure owing to the ongoing Maratha agitation, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called a meeting of group leaders of all parties in the Maharashtra legislature to discuss and resolve the matter.

The decision to involve all parties was taken at a late-night meeting on Thursday of the BJP’s Maratha ministers and senior leaders, called by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The meeting was held at state education minister Vinod Tawde’s home and went on till 1am.

“The CM has decided to call a meeting of all group leaders of all parties to understand their opinions on the issue and for their feedback on the Maratha agitation. He has also been in talks with various groups that are agitating. A solution will be worked out soon,” said revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, who attended Thursday’s discussion.

The all-party meeting will also include the speaker of the Legislative Assembly and chairman of the Legislative Council.

State BJP president Raosaheb Danve said: “The issue of reservation for Marathas has been going on for a long time, and unlike the earlier government, our government has taken concrete steps to hasten the reservation. We will ensure that the Backward Class Commission submits its report at the earliest in court so that we can present evidence of the backwardness of the community.”

The meeting was attended by Fadnavis, Tawde, Patil, co-operation minister Subhash Deshmukh, minister of state for home Ranjit Patil, minister of state for medical education Ravindra Chavan, water resources minister Girish Mahajan, Danve and city BJP chief Ashish Shelar.

Other than Fadnavis and Mahajan, the rest of the BJP leaders hail from the Maratha community.

BJP ministers also plan to meet members of the Backward Class Commission on Friday evening, to request them to submit their report to court as soon as possible. The commission was set up by the government in 2017 to study the Maratha community and collect evidence of its social and educational backwardness. Without the report, reservation for the community will not stand legal scrutiny.

The state government has already promised to meet the community’s demand for 16% reservation in education and government jobs.

Marathas make up 32% of the state’s population. The previous two Backward Class Commission reports had stated that the community was not socially backward.