Narayan Rane, Chhagan Bhujbal against OBC quota given to Marathas

The Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government's decision to faciliate giving the Maratha community members kunbi certificates enabling them to be categorised as Other Backward Caste to get reservations has not gone down well with at least two senior leaders within the government.

BJP leader and Union minister Narayan Rane has come out openly against the notification and said it would create discord among communities. "I am not supporting the decision taken by the state government in connection with the Maratha reservation. This will actually hurt the historical prestige of the Maratha community and would also cause an encroachment of the OBCs, and is likely to cause resentment among them," wrote Rane on 'X'.

The BJP leader added that he will address a press conference on Monday to further elaborate his reasons for opposing the government decision.


Rane is the first BJP leader to come out openly against the draft notification os the state government.

NCP minister (Ajit Pawar faction) Chhagan Bhujbal has already voiced his opposition to the draft notification and is now moving to mobilise the OBC community against the state government decision.

"The government has accepted the adamant demand of (Marathas) to get reservation from OBC quota. The government claims that the OBCs won't be discriminated against, however, if you push in lakhs of people (from Maratha community) into the OBC category, then the OBC community will obviously be impacted," said Bhujbal.

He added that the OBC community was being thrown out of the OBC list with the Marathas coming in. Bhujbal warned the government that the OBC community also is a strong vote bank that can vote decisively during the polls.

The NCP Leader is holding a meeting on Sunday with prominent OBC leaders to discuss the future course of action.

However, on Sunday, Shinde claimed that there was no injustice to the OBC community and the draft notification would not impact them.

"We are a government of all communities and there is no need to create discord between communities," he said.