Maharashtra’s Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said on Monday that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not mean that the State could disown its responsibility.
“The Bhosale committee report has said that there are limitations for the effectiveness of revision petition on the Maratha quota issue. The State Backward Class Commission should be formed and the report must be sent to the Central Commission. Which means the State has to act first,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
Commenting on the issues raised by the State government delegation with Mr. Modi, Mr. Fadnavis said that the majority of the issues, barring a few, could have been handled at the State level.
“We do not understand the reason behind discussing the issue of appointment of 12 MLCs. It is to be done by the Governor and not the Prime Minister,” he said.
When asked about the separate meeting between both the leaders, Mr. Fadnavis said that there was nothing surprising, adding that he was not sure whether such an interaction had taken place. “Whenever a delegation goes to meet the Prime Minister, he always holds one-to-one talks with the Chief Minister before. We might go to any extent in opposing each other politically, but we have maintained individual relations,” he said.
Meanwhile, various Maratha organisations have questioned the outcome of the meeting between the CM and the PM. “The community is sad as there was no outcome for the Maratha community. We were hopeful but neither the State nor the Centre informed us about who will take the responsibility of ensuring reservation for the community,” said Vinod Patil, one of the petitioners in support of Maratha reservation in the Supreme Court.