All-party meeting on Maratha quota today

The Maharashtra government is going to call for an allparty meeting on Saturday to discuss and evolve a consensus on the Maratha reservation issue.

The move to call for an all-party meeting comes after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis called a meeting of BJP ministers and Maratha community leaders from his party on Thursday night to discuss a way out of the imbroglio.

Later, there was one more meeting between Fadnavis and some cabinet ministers to discuss the issue. With Maratha protests not abating and parliamentary polls less than a year away, which would be followed by the assembly polls, the BJP has decided that it would not be wise for the protests to linger any longer.


Accordingly, different initiatives have been taken. Firstly, the cabinet subcommittee formed last year to look in to the Maratha reservation issue has decided they would meet chairman of the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission Justice MG Gaikwad.

The delegation headed by revenue minister Chandrakant Patil will press for the panel to speed up its report on the backwardness of the Maratha community.

There is also talk in BJP circles that the party should take the help of Maratha king Shivaji’s descendants to quell the current agitation and mediate on the government’s behalf.