BJP leader’s meeting with NCP chief raises eyebrows.
Hours after slamming the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government over its failure to ensure political reservation for OBCs in local bodies, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis held a meeting with coalition partner and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar at the latter’s residence.
The meeting sparked speculation. Mr. Fadnavis, while posting a photograph of the two leaders on Twitter, however, said it was only a courtesy call.
Earlier in the day, the former CM had slammed the State government over the OBC reservation issue, saying it did not work in time and continued seeking more time from the court which resulted in the Supreme Court rejecting its review petition.
“On December 13, 2019, the court asked the State government to justify reservation above 50% and asked to submit a report on next hearing. For next 15 months, the State government did nothing and was busy in seeking postponement of the matter and finally the court scrapped the reservation on March 4, 2021,” said Mr. Fadnavis. He added that he had raised the issued in the legislative session asking the State government to take action and even a special meeting for the same was organised.
“The Krishnamurthy order of 2010 which prohibits reservation above 50% seeks empirical data and not census data. It needed the formation of a State Backward Classes Commission and collection of empirical data. But this government did nothing which led to OBCs losing political reservation in local bodies,” the BJP leader claimed.
