A day after demanding that the Justice Sandeep Shinde committee be scrapped and the process of issuing Kunbi certificates to Marathas be stopped, Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal, a prominent OBC leader, has said the OBCs will continue to oppose giving “blanket reservation” for the Marathas. “We will never consent to the demand for blanket reservation for the Maratha community. It also does not fit in the framework of the law. The Supreme Court has clearly stated that the Maratha community cannot be included in the OBC category as it is not a backward caste.The demand to put the Marathas in the OBC category is not just,” Bhujbal told reporters in Pune on Monday. “The Maratha community should get reservation. We extend our support to them on this count. There is a provision in the Constitution. If required, the government can give separate reservation to the community on an economic and educational basis. We are not opposing it. But the Maratha community should not get reservation in the Kunbi category,” the minister belonging to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP said. At a rally in Hingoli on Sunday, he made the same demand and said the Marathas could be given separate reservation. Reiterating his demand that the Justice Shinde committee should be scrapped, Bhujbal said, “Initially, there was a demand that the Marathas from Marathwada who were Kunbis should be given Kunbi certificates. They had demanded that Nizam-era documents should be examined and that Kunbi certificates should be given to them. For this, some people were appointed to search for proof in Telangana. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde appointed the Justice Shinde committee. When I was asked about this, I told the chief minister that I had no objection,” he said. “During the search, if proof is found, those families automatically make it to the OBC category.The committee started working. Initially, 5,000 records were found. Then the figure started increasing. They started working all over Maharashtra. But we had never asked the committee to work all over Maharashtra. Kunbis are present in western Maharashtra, north Maharashtra and Vidarbha. They already have Kunbi caste certificates. The committee’s work was limited to examining the Nizam-era documents and genealogy. The work in Marathwada has ended. Therefore the committee should be dissolved,” he added.