Fadnavis asks MVA leaders to clear stand on Maratha reservation
The deputy chief minister also asserted that his party will unmask MVA leaders on Maratha reservation
Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis asked Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders to clear their stand on reservation for the Maratha community. He was speaking at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state convention in the city on Sunday.
“Uddhav Thackeray, Nana Patole, and Sharad Pawar should clear their stand on the reservation to Marathas through Other Backward Class (OBC) quota. Are you supporting it or not?,” he said.
The deputy chief minister also asserted that his party will unmask MVA leaders on Maratha reservation.
On joining hands with Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Fadnavis said, that in politics, one has to make compromises sometimes.
“The BJP brought the Mahayuti government to power so that Maharashtra can remain with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has transformed the country and accelerated development,” he said.
The RSS-linked Marathi weekly ‘Vivek’ last week blamed Ajit Pawar’s NCP as one of the reasons behind the BJP’s poor performance in Maharashtra Lok Sabha elections. The article in ‘Vivek’, titled ‘Karyakarta khachlelanahi, tar sambhramat’ (worker is not discouraged, but confused), also blamed the lack of communication between the BJP and its workers as another reason behind the poor poll show.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis accused members of MVA of planning to derail the ambitious ‘Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana’, which assures monthly cash benefit of ₹1,500 to women whose annual income is less than ₹2.5 lakh.
“I have observed that opposition leaders and their workers are going to towns and collecting applications from the women for the scheme. But their (MVA’s) strategy is to collect applications from women and not submit it to the government so the intended beneficiaries don’t get money and the government is defamed in the process,” he said.
“Therefore, we need to go on the ground and get the applications filled from women and submit them to the government offices,” said Fadnavis.
So far, the government has received more than 47 lakh applications and the Mahayuti leaders believe that it can turn a game changer in the upcoming assembly polls.
Maharashtra is likely to poll for the 288-member legislative assembly as the tenure of the current government is ending in 2024. However, the Election Commission is yet to announce the dates.