A day after minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal made speech against Maratha reservation, prominent Maratha leader Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje Saturday sought the ouster of the NCP leader from the Maharashtra Cabinet for “trying to create bitterness between peace-loving Maratha and OBC communities”. ''What Bhujbal did yesterday is a very serious matter. He tried to create bitterness and enmity between the Maratha and OBC communities. The two communities have lived peacefully in villages and cities of Maharashtra over the years. Bhujbal crossed all boundaries; he crossed the Laxman Rekha and did everything to trigger violence between the two communities. He does not deserve to be in the state cabinet. He should be immediately sacked,” Sambhajiraje said. On Friday, while addressing a massive rally by OBC and VJNT organisations in Jalna district, Bhujbal said granting reservations to Marathas would lead to a face-off between the Marathas on one side and OBCs, SCs, STs and Muslims on the other side. He also said a caste census was the need of the hour in the country. Sambhjajiraje said he wanted to know from the Shinde-Fadnavis government whether a minister has the right to create trouble between the two communities. “During his speech, Bhujbal did everything to run down the Maratha community in the way he did. This will certainly anger the whole Maratha community. His speech is sure to create bitterness among Maratha community members. It is against the constitutional norms which a minister is supposed to uphold after taking oath of office. If the government does not agree with his views, then it should sack the minister without wasting time,” Sambhajiraje said. Sambhajiraje said Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil has never attacked the OBC community and has been maintained restraint in his comments. “He has always said OBC leaders are trying to pit Maratha community against OBC community. But in the same breath, he has said OBC community has no problem with Marathas entering the OBC category and getting reservation. He has said that OBC community had in fact welcomed him in a village with shower of flowers. While an activist like Manoj Jarange Patil has praised the OBC community, a minister like Bhujbal is trying to paint the Maratha community in poor light by using bad language,'' he said. At the Friday’s OBC Elgar rally speech at Ambad at Jalna, Bhujbal had said the ministers were trying to appease Jarange-Patil who had fled and slept at home after the police lathicharge at his native Antarwali-Saraati village in September. Meanwhile, at the Jalna rally, Bhujbal had also alleged that it was Rohit Pawar and Rajesh Tope who forced activist to continue his fast after the police lathi-charge. Rohit pawar, who belongs to the Sharad Pawar faction of NCP, said the remark indicated the minister’s frustration. Speaking to reporters during his Yuva Sangarsh Yatra on Saturday, Rohit Pawar said, “Bhubjal is a minister in the Shinde-Fadnavis government. Despite being a minister, he has to hold a rally and express his views. This is because the government is not ready to hear him out. As a result, he has to go before the public. This is the position of a senior leader like Bhujbal in the state Cabinet.” Rohit’s 800-km yatra, which aims to highlight the problems faced by the state’s youths, resumed on Friday after being temporarily suspended as the Maratha quota agitation peaked. The MLA, who is Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew, said that if the government does not care for a minister’s views, the plight of the common man can be imagined. “A minister has no value in this government. What can you then expect for the common man on the street?” Rohit Pawar added that he will respond to the allegations raised by Bhujbal, who is the Food and Civil Supplies Minister, at the appropriate time.
