Maratha legislators affirm support to Joshi

"Ever since the alliance government came to power in March 1995, neither Thackeray nor Joshi encouraged casteism at any level either in the party or in the government," Minister of State for Home Gajanan Kirtikar said in a statement.

Condemning the Congress, Kirtikar said while the Shiv Sena gave equal opportunity to all irrespective of their caste, it was the Congress, which always differentiated between different communities.

By creating confusion on the basisof caste and creed, the Congress succeeded in securing a large number of seats in the Lok Sabha elections and now it was adopting the same strategy in the coming Assembly elections. "We will not allow the Congress to make its evil designs successful," Kirtikar added.

After the Congress failed to topple the government, it was now instigating the legislators on caste considerations, he alleged. "The Congress has virtually launched a disinformation campaign against the Shiv Sena, saying it was anti-Maratha and pro-Brahmin. Now we have decided to oppose the Congress at all levels," he said.

Kirtikar said out of the 75 Shiv Sena legislators, 45 belong to the Maratha community, while eight of them are Cabinet members. However, he said, they were not selected on the grounds that they belonged to the Maratha community but were chosen on the basis of their performance.

OUR AURANGABAD CORRESPONDENT ADDS:

Surprisingly, the Shiv Sena cadre in Beed, where it is headed by Suresh Navale’s own brother, didnot react to his "sacking" or the "attack" with much vigour. In fact it was the Congress which called for a Beed bandh to protest the manhandling of its MLC, Vinayak Mete, also from Beed, in the state council. Mete is the president of the Maratha Mahasangh.

Navale was said to be perturbed by the fact that the five Maratha MPs from Marathwada, who had promised to stick by him in case of any change in the balance of power, had developed cold feet.

Reports also said that the dismissed minister had sought help from a former Shiv Sena MP who, though not with the Shiv Sena any more, is said to enjoy a close friendship with the Chief Minister.

Of the 45 MLAs in Marathwada, 15 are from the Shiv Sena, nine from the BJP, 11 from the Congress, two each from the Janata Dal and PWP, one from the CPM, while the remaining five are Independents.

Navale is looked upon as an adopted brother of Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde, who also hails from Beed. Munde who according to political pundits here is not gettingalong too well with the Chief Minister, had reportedly hoped the Navale crisis would pave way for a change of guard soon.