As the pro-quota agitation by the Maratha community refuses to die down, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called a number of community leaders for a meeting to discuss the situation on Thursday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also called a meeting of its MLAs on Thursday seeking feedback from them over the agitation that has seen much violence and death in the past two weeks. “The party needs to understand the ground level situation from its representatives and needs to draw up a strategy based on those inputs,” said a senior BJP minister.
The BJP meeting comes days after the Opposition, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, and ruling ally Shiv Sena met their respective MLAs in Mumbai to take stock of the situation. Each party has made its representation to the Backward Class Commission, and the Opposition even held a meeting with the Governor seeking his intervention in the matter.
The Sena has also demanded the announcement for Maratha reservation without waiting for the Commission report, which the Chief Minister has rejected.
BJP sources said a general perception of the Maratha community going against the BJP also has to be checked, which will be done in the meeting on Thursday with MLAs.
Meanwhile, groups of Maratha youth staged ‘jail bharo’ protests across the State, including at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan, demanding reservation for the community.