Shinde govt suffering from policy paralysis, says Supriya Sule after fresh Maratha quota stir

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule asserted that the government led by Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra is experiencing a state of policy paralysis. These comments came in the wake of Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange commencing an indefinite hunger strike to demand reservation for the Maratha community. Notably, this marks his second hunger strike on this issue in just over a month.

As the 40-day deadline he set before the state government to implement Maratha reservation came to an end, Jarange launched an indefinite fast at Antarwali Sarati village under Ambad tehsil of Jalna district in the morning to press for quota for his community.

Talking to reporters here, Sule said Jarange, at the time of ending his first fast in mid-September, had given an ultimatum of 40 days to the government to provide reservation to the Maratha community in jobs and education under the OBC category.

The Shinde-led dispensation had then-assured Maratha reservation will happen in 40 days but that promise has not been fulfilled yet, said the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) working president.

There is policy paralysis (implying inability to take decisions on key issues at right time) in the government, Sule said in response to queries on the long-pending Maratha quota matter.

Jarange (40) had launched a hunger strike in Antarwali Sarati village in August-end demanding that the Maratha community be granted reservation in government jobs and education under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.