Mumbai: Leader of opposition and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has once again trained guns against Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) over the Other Backward Class (OBC) reservation and said that the Maharashtra government failed to do what the Madhya Pradesh government did. Calling the state government a ‘killer’ of the reservation, Fadnavis said that the restoration of the OBC quota before the ensuing local body elections is unlikely unless the Supreme Court allows it to rework the pre-poll process for the local bodies due for the election.
“The MVA government could not compile the empirical data for two-and-half years after the SC order in December 2019. Madhya Pradesh government sought my help and completed the process within the given time and has now been allowed to hold the elections with the OBC quota. MVA government could not do what the neighbouring state did. There was a conspiracy to strike down the quota,” he said.
Fadnavis said that the BJP will not keep quiet unless the reservation was restored.
Meanwhile, rural development department minister Hasan Mushrif said, “The report of the Banthia commission is expected to be submitted this month-end, after which it will be handed over to the Supreme Court with the request to restore the OBC quota.”
Food and civil supplies minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal said, “Banthia commission has been doing its work. The commission has invited suggestions and objections from all the political parties. If the BJP is so concerned about the OBCs, they should approach the commission and give information to it. The reservation has not been struck down, the next elections will be held with the quota.”
Fadnavis was addressing the Maharashtra state executive meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday. He also slammed the MVA for the high taxes on petrol and diesel saying that the central tax on petrol is ₹19 while the state VAT is ₹29 per litre.
“The fuel is expensive in Maharashtra just because of the high rate of taxes on petrol and diesel in Maharashtra. Despite this, the ruling party leaders have been blaming the central government. The state government has been taking credit for the natural reduction in the selling prices of petrol and diesel because of the reduction of the excise by the central government on Saturday. The liar state government needs to be exposed by the BJP leaders,” he said.
The meeting was chaired by Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil and attended by the party’s national general secretary and Maharashtra in-charge CT Ravi, union minister Bhagwat Karad, senior leaders Sudhir Mungantiwar, Girish Mahajan, and Ashish Shelar among others. Union minister Raosaheb Danve, senior leaders Pankaja Munde, and national secretary Sunil Deodhar joined the meeting virtually.
Ravi said that the Modi government has been working relentlessly for the welfare of the people. He said that the BJP workers should take the performance of the government and its schemes to the common man.