Stating that reservation to Marathas should be given without compromising the OBC reservation, state Food and Civil Supply Minister and senior OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal Wednesday said that the BJP-led central government can solve the issue by increasing the reservation limit. Speaking at Loksatta’s Lok Samvad programme, the minister also said that he remains firm on his demand for a caste-based census on the lines of Bihar. “No one is against the reservation for Marathas. But it should be given without compromising OBC reservation. The Act giving reservation to Marathas was not upheld in the Supreme Court. Should we walk that path again ? In that case how should reservation be given to Marathas?" asked the minister, who belongs to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP. “The Bombay High court had approved the Maratha reservation which means it is possible to give reservation to Marathas. If the apex court did not upheld it, that means there are certain lacunae. Those should be studied and can be solved,” he said. अंतरवाली सराटी (जि. जालना) येथे #मराठा आरक्षणाच्या मागणीसाठी उपोषणास बसलेल्या मनोज जरांगे पाटील यांची आज मुख्यमंत्री @mieknathshinde यांनी भेट घेऊन चर्चा केली. केंद्रीय राज्यमंत्री रावसाहेब दानवे, महसूलमंत्री राधाकृष्ण विखे- पाटील, ग्रामविकासमंत्री गिरीश महाजन, उद्योगमंत्री उदय… pic.twitter.com/iVVMoXLrm0 — CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) September 14, 2023 Bhujbal added that the second option could be that since the central government has already increased the 50 per cent quota limit by giving 10 per cent reservation to economically backward classes, it can further increase it by 10-12 per cent which can be given to Marathas. “Only Centre can do this,” he said. The OBC leader clarified that he oppose giving share within OBC reservation to Marathas. “Even if OBCs have 30% reservation, it has share of many other castes and original OBCs get barely 17% reservation. Including Marathas in it would mean that neither the smallest castes within the OBCs nor the Marathas will get reservation benefits,” he said. “Caste census would bring out the real number of people belonging to each caste. Several states such as Bihar have done this. It is an important exercise and should be done in Maharashtra as well,” he said. When asked about the police lathicharge on Maratha protesters in Jalna district and subsequent apology by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the Home portfolio, Bhujbal said that the apology was to cool down the tempers. “There is nothing wrong is apologising to establish peace,” said Bhujbal.
