Maratha reservation: Ashok Chavan should resign, Sharad Pawar should intervene: Vinayak Mete

Mete said "Chavan has failed to get justice for the Maratha community.' (File)

The Shiv Sangram Party, which is allied to the BJP, has demanded that Public Works Department Minister Ashok Chavan should resign as chief of the cabinet sub-committee on Maratha reservation and NCP chief Sharad Pawar should intervene and help resolve the quota issue.

Vinayak Mete, who heads the Shiv Sangram Party and is one of the coordinators of the Maratha Kranti Morcha, said, “Chavan has failed to get justice for the Maratha community. He has failed to implement an effective strategy to get the stay vacated in the Supreme Court….there is neither any coordination among counsels nor any top counsels have been appointed to fight the case. There also does not seem to be any seriousness and urgency on the part of the committee headed by Chavan to fight the matter in the apex court,” said Mete, who heads the Shiv Sangram Party.

Mete alleged that attempts were being made to sow divisions in the Maratha community by the committee headed by Chavan. “Some Maratha leaders are being contacted and wooed…There are attempts to cause fissures in the Maratha community in a bid to stifle the united voice of the Maratha Kranti Morcha,” he said.

Mete said Pawar was already at the helm of affairs of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. “He has made a statement that he would look into the issue. On behalf of the Maratha community, I urge Pawar saheb to intervene in the matter and bring justice to the Maratha community,” he said.

Mete said a deadline of December 31 has been for chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to invite all Maratha leaders and explain the government’s future plan and its strategy to get the stay vacated. “We want the government to explain its stand and clear the confusion and unease in the Maratha community. We want the government to appoint some more senior counsels to fight the case. The chief minister should hold a dialogue with us before December 31 or else we will launch an aggressive agitation from January 3,” he said.

– Stay updated with the latest Pune news. Follow Express Pune on Twitter here and on Facebook here. You can also join our Express Pune Telegram channel here.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App.