The president of Shiv Sangram, MLA Vinayakrao Mete, demanded dissolving of the State Backward Commission on the issue of reservations for the Maratha community.
Mr Mete was speaking during a one-day Maratha Arakshan Jagran Parishad (Maratha reservation awareness workshop) at Nashik on Sunday. Senior Maratha leaders, including Bhaiyuji Maharaj Deshmukh, Jankidas Brahmachari, NCP leader Sunil Bagul and Uday Aher among others, were present.
Mr Mete further claimed that the Justice Bapat Commission was established by the state government to decide whether the Maratha Community should be given reservations or not. “Justice Bapat was biased. When four members of the committee was in favour of reservations, Justice Bapat used his influence and tabled his report stating that the Marathas should not be given reservations.”
“We studied the report and its loopholes and urged the government to reconsider the issue. It should be recalled that before the last Lok Sabha elections, present PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal assured us that the reservation issue would be taken up in the first Cabinet meeting. No such meeting was held after the elections and we were cheated,” Mr Mete stated.
“After the Bapat Commission came, the Saraf Commission and presently the Bhatia Commission are in force. Since the first commission was established, the commission members — Hari Narke and Renu Renke — are biased and castiest. When the government rules stipulate that the membership should not be for more than three years, how are these two members sitting even after five years?” Mr Mete asked.
Mr Mete further said that the Maratha community did not want reservations out of the OBC quota, but demanded a separate 25 per cent. “The OBC communities should understand that we don’t want reservations out of their quota,” he said. Earlier, Maratha leader Ramrao Patil-Choudhary had stated that MLAs Baban Gholap of Shiv Sena and Vasant Gite of MNS had supported reservations for the Maratha community.