Vijay Wadettiwar stresses on creation of separate quota for Maratha community

Vijay Wadettiwar, the leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra assembly, stated on Tuesday that a separate quota might be created for Marathas and reaffirmed his opposition to the Maratha community sharing the present OBC quota.

Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Wadettiwar said he was not opposed to the idea of increasing the quota limit to accommodate the Maratha community in it. A separate quote for the Maratha community can be created. However, I am against sharing the existing quota for OBCs with the Maratha community, the Congress leader said.

Maharashtra government can increase the quota limit to address the demand of the Maratha community for reservation in education and jobs, he said. Instead of wasting time in procedures to issue certificates of Kunbi caste to the Maratha community, the Maharashtra government should increase the quota limit and accommodate the Maratha community in it, he said.

Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, has claimed that the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government did nothing to grant the Maratha community a reservation. According to Wadettiwar, this is because Fadnavis and BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule have divergent stances on the subject. It is obviously an effort to mislead and cleanse people's eyes.

CM Eknath Shinde on Monday said a committee will submit its report within a month on how to issue Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas from Marathwada region. To this, Wadettiwar said, Forget about 30 days, even if the state government takes 30 months, such kind of reservation cannot be given. The state government is trying to cover up the unrest among people after police used force against the Maratha quota protesters in Jalna last week.

It is the Union government's right to issue a notification or publish it in gazette for the same. If the Union government takes such a decision in the upcoming Parliament session, the whole issue of Maratha quota can be solved by the end of September, he said.