NCP MLAs uneasy about Bhujbal’s remarks against Jarange-Patil

he reaction from the Maratha MLAs came in response to Bhujbal openly opposing Jarange-Patil’s demand for Maratha reservation from the OBC quota on November 17. The OBC leader had earlier denounced his own government for “wrongfully” issuing thousands of Kunbi certificates to please the Maratha community. Since then, Jarange-Patil has been slamming Bhujbal in all his public interactions

MUMBAI: MLAs of the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) are worried about senior NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal taking an aggressive stand against Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil. At a meeting held by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday, the legislators expressed concern that Bhujbal’s outburst could antagonise the Maratha community, which was firmly behind Jarange-Patil. Ajit had to intervene to pacify the irked MLAs and end the discussion.

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Most of the MLAs who spoke up were from the Maratha community. Although they chose to avoid directly naming Bhujbal, it was quite clear who their target was. Bhujbal, a prominent OBC leader, preferred to remain quiet.

The reaction from the Maratha MLAs came in response to Bhujbal openly opposing Jarange-Patil’s demand for Maratha reservation from the OBC quota on November 17. The OBC leader had earlier denounced his own government for “wrongfully” issuing thousands of Kunbi certificates to please the Maratha community. Since then, Jarange-Patil has been slamming Bhujbal in all his public interactions.

The meeting convened at ‘Devgiri’, Ajit’s official bungalow, on Tuesday evening was a routine weekly one for Ajit to get feedback from all his leaders and also check if they were facing any issues or pendency of development works with the government. The Bhujbal-Jarange-Patil issue dominated this meeting, with the legislators claiming that there was a lot of anger in the Maratha community, and the NCP was creating problems for itself.

“The remarks made against Jarange-Patil can go against us, as he enjoys much sympathy from the Maratha community,” an MLA reportedly said in the meeting. Added another MLA: “If he is targeted continuously, we are creating trouble for ourselves because the community will turn against us and we may not be able to afford it.” The consensus was that Bhujbal should refrain from attacking Jarange-Patil.

As Maratha leaders enjoy a majority in the party, Ajit intervened and pacified all of them. Taking matters into his own hands, he declared that no one had opposed Maratha reservation, and the government too was “positive” about this. “Chief minister Eknath Shinde has come up with a solution to give reservation to the community, to which deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and I have also agreed,” Ajit is said to have told the gathering.

The NCP leader said that all leaders needed to avoid conflicts and not make controversial statements. “All the parties have supported Maratha reservation,” he said. “Jarange-Patil should not be disrespectful towards anyone. How can you stop someone who is raising the concerns of his community?”

The subject of unequal distribution of funds was also raised by the legislators, who demanded a joint meeting of NCP MLAs with CM Shinde and Fadnavis so that their issues could be resolved. “The release of funds is a discretionary power of the chief minister,” said an NCP MLA. “The Shiv Sena MLAs want more funds than us despite being in government for more than a year now and are creating problems in the release of funds to NCP MLAs.” The MLAs have suggested similar joint meetings with MLAs from the other ruling parties for better coordination among all three.

The unequal power-sharing is one of the reasons that Ajit has been sulking. On November 10, he, along with Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare, met union home minister Amit Shah to discuss the issues his party was facing. Shah promised that he would speak to Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to resolve them all.