Chhagan Bhujbal. File
| Photo Credit: Photo credit: X/@ChhaganCBhujbal
Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra cabinet Minister Chhagan Bhujbal met his former party colleague and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar at the latter’s Silver Oak residence in Mumbai on Monday to seek help in calming down caste related tensions in Maharashtra.
The meeting came a day after Mr. Bhujbal had passed a critical and veiled remark regarding the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance’s boycott of an all-party meeting on Maratha reservation after a call from Baramati.
After the meeting, Mr. Bhujbal detailed out the agenda and discussions both the leaders had. He told reporters, “I had not met him as a Minister or for politics. I approached him to seek his support to calm down the situation that has arisen in Maharashtra due to the Maratha versus Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation issue. The situation is becoming volatile to the extent that both the communities are boycotting each other’s establishments.”
Mr. Pawar is said to have shared that he is unaware of the discussions that the government representatives have had between pro-Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil and OBC activist Laxman Hake, hence, cannot take a call. However, the NCP(SP) leader has assured to call Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on the issue to understand the dialogue so far.
During the discussion that lasted for around 90 minutes at Silver Oak, Mr. Pawar suggested having a meeting of no more than two-three other political leaders to initiate a dialogue on the reservation stalemate.
“I requested him that you had taken a lead to provide reservation to OBC when you were State’s CM. Being the senior most political leader in Maharashtra, it is your responsibility to bring peace and calm the way you did during the renaming of Marathwada University,” Mr. Bhujbal said, who went to meet the political rival unannounced.
Giving reaction on Mr. Pawar-Mr. Bhujbal meeting, Mr. Jarange-Patil criticised the Minister of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection blaming him for such an explosive situation in Maharashtra. He said, “It was Mr. Bhujbal who first used provocative language. It all started from there. He spits in the same plate that he eats from. He is a dishonest person. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis saved him from getting imprisoned and gave him cabinet post, yet he has spoken poorly of him. He has also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr. Bhujbal split from Shiv Sena, the party where his political career grew. It is Sharad Pawar who gave reservation to the OBCs, now Mr. Bhujbal has played the Sharad Pawar card at the right time, because he is a dishonest person.”
Defending OBC community and seeking clarification from all the political stakeholders, Mr. Hake said, “OBCs don’t have a violent past, in fact OBCs are the deprived ones…Let either Mr. Bhujbal, Mr. Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar, Mr. Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray and Vijay Wadettiwar come forward to clarify and announce the truth on how our community will be impacted or not.”
Prior to speaking to journalists, the meeting between the two had sparked buzz among political circles if an “unhappy” Mr. Bhujbal is contemplating switching over to one of the political outfits in the Opposition. In the last two months, he has made multiple comments expressing displeasure over being denied a ticket to contest Lok Sabha election from Nashik.
When NCP leader and Member of Parliament (MP) from Raigad Sunil Tatkare was asked about the same, he defended Mr. Bhujbal saying, “He is a senior party leader and need not take anyone’s permission. When I meet him later today, we will speak on what made him approach Mr. Pawar.”
Clarifying on why the visit was kept under wraps, Mr. Bhujbal said that he had only informed his senior colleague in the NCP and MP Praful Patel and apprised him of the meeting’s agenda. “I am ready to go to any body’s doorstep to resolve the stalemate and bring peace on Maratha-OBC reservation issue,” Mr. Bhujbal added.
At Silver Oak bungalow, Mr. Pawar was unwell and asleep when he had arrived. He had to wait for close to 90 minutes and later met Mr. Pawar while he was resting in his bedroom.
