Caste reservation issue will be resolved when Congress comes to power: Patole

Hitting out at BJP, Patole said the party in power is creating frictions between the communities and misleading the communities. He said the issue of reservation has been burning in the state for the past few days.

“BJP is committing the sin of creating a dispute between two communities over reservation. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in Nagpur that he will not touch reservation for OBCs and the same Fadnavis says that only he can give reservation to Marathas. But in reality, he is misleading both the communities. If the reservation issue is to be resolved, the Central government can do it immediately. Caste-wise census is an important path towards it but BJP is against caste-wise census. Congress party, Mallikarjun Kharge ji, Soniaji Gandhi and Rahulji Gandhi have demanded caste-wise census. It has also promised to conduct a caste-wise census if the Congress comes to power,” Patole said.

He also said the BJP did not take adequate measures to deal with a drought-like situation in the state and the ministers are busy in felicitations and tours.

There is less rain in many parts of the state and the situation in Marathwada is also serious. There are many issues including crisis on drinking water, animal fodder etc. Farmers, workers, and common people are suffering. There is a demand to declare drought, but the government is not serious about it. Two or three cabinet meetings were held but there was no discussion on drought. This government has nothing to do with the people.

“One minister is engrossed in felicitating, while another minister has gone to bring the tiger claws of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj… he is enjoying ‘London tourism’ on public money and is walking around felicitating himself,” Patole said, targeting cultural affairs minister Sudhir Mungantiwar who recently visited London to sign an Memorandum of Understanding with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to bring back wagh nakh, the wartime weapon of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

The wagh nakh or tiger claws were used by Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to kill Afzal Khan, the general of the Bijapur Adil Shahi empire.

Patole also raised questions about corruption and safety issues associated with the Samriddhi Highway.

Speaking about the controversial Yerwada (Pune) land scam mentioned in the book of former IPS officer Meera Borvankar, Patole demanded clarity on the identity of the Guardian Minister referred to as ‘Dada’ in the book and said that the then Guardian Minister ‘Dada’ was under pressure for it. “Who is the minister ‘Dada’ mentioned by Borwankar? People should know this. There is lot of displeasure in the police administration about this government. Some people of BJP had set the stage to make Rashmi Shukla, whose image is tarnished by the phone tapping case, as the Director General of Police. What is going on in the state?,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar dismissed the allegations of Borwankar about the sale of land to a private party and asserted that he had no connection with this issue.

The DCM said the guardian ministers of the district do not have the right to buy the land.

A statement from Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s office also noted that such matters go to the revenue department before placing them before the cabinet and the cabinet takes the final decision on it.