BJP Rajya Sabha MP Chattrapati Sambhajiraje (File) The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday declared it’s support to the agitation for Maratha reservation initiated by Rajya Sabha MP Chattrapati Sambhajiraje from February 26.
Sambhajiraje, who hails from the erstwhile royal family of Kolhapur and was nominated to the Upper House by the BJP in 2016, has announced a fast unto death from Feb 26 to press for the restoration of reservation for Marathas.
In 2018, the Maharashtra legislature had passed a bill proposing 16 percent reservation in education and jobs for the Marathas. But in May last year, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court declared the Maratha quota law as unconstitutional.
BJP state president Chandrakant Patil claimed that his colleague and former CM Devendra Fadnavis had ‘painstakingly’ worked for five years to give reservation to Marathas in education and jobs. During his tenure, Fadnavis had also ensured OBC reservation in local body elections, he said.
“Unfortunately, Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s non-seriousness landed both these decisions into legal imbroglio. Had the government taken right measures, it would have withstood the legal challenges in courts,” he said.
Patil said that the previous BJP government had launched various welfare schemes for Marathas and OBC particularly in professional courses to enable them to pursue higher education.
“A 50 per cent fee waiver was provided for which state government took the financial burden of Rs 785 crore,” he said.
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