Maratha quota: Both houses of legislature adjourned amid din after Oppn boycotts all-party meet

Both houses of Maharashtra legislature witnessed uproar on Wednesday over the opposition boycotting the allparty meeting convened earlier by CM Eknath Shinde on the Maratha reservation issue leading to adjournment of the legislative assembly and council for the day reported the PTIAccording to the PTI the allparty meeting convened on Tuesday evening was boycotted by Maha Vikas Aghadi members accusing the government of not taking them into confidenceIn the Lower House presiding officer Sanjay Shirsat hurriedly conducted the days business including passing supplementary and budgetary demands an appropriation bill and a taxrelated amendment bill before adjourning the assembly for the dayThe issue was initially raised by BJPs Ameet Satam who accused the opposition of politicising the reservation matterAmit Satam challenged the opposition to clarify their stance on whether Marathas should be given reservations from the OBC quota accusing them of attempting to create a rift between the communities as per the PTIAccording to the PTI BJPs Ashish Shelar claimed that the opposition had withdrawn from the allparty meeting at the last moment Treasury benches then stormed the well condemning the oppositionLeader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar of Congress alleged the government was fostering social divisions and only seeking the oppositions support when tensions escalated He blamed the social unrest on the ruling Mahayuti governmentSocial tensions are the sin of the Mahayuti government he saidBJP MLA Sanjay Kute contended that previous allparty meetings on the quota issue were attended by the opposition alleging that Congress and NCP leaders had opposed Maratha reservationsIt is the BJPled government which had provided quota to the Maratha community but the opposition is trying to scuttle it in the Supreme Court Sanjay Kute saidMeanwhile Ashish Shelar demanded that the opposition apologise to the Maratha community and OBCs and claimed the opposition has no intention to resolve the issueAmid the chaos and members of treasury benches trooping into the well Speaker Rahul Narwekar adjourned the House multiple timesAfter the House reassembled BJPs Nitesh Rane demanded that the opposition clarify their position on the Maratha quota while Ashish Shelar insinuated that the oppositions lastminute boycott was influenced by someone the news agency reported on WednesdayWhose message or phone call was behind this the boycott Ashish Shelar askedNitesh Rane said that they the opposition should immediately clarify whether they want a separate quota for Marathas or from the OBC groupingWhen Vijay Wadettiwar rose to speak members of the treasury benches trooped into the well and shouted slogansSanjay Kute urged Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange to avoid opposition leaders claiming they sought to incite community divisions for electoral gain the news agency reportedHe accused Vijay Wadettiwar of adopting different stands while speaking with media OBC leaders Maratha activists and in the legislatureBJPs Ameet Satam called for a Special Investigation Team to probe an MLA from Marathwada for allegedly spreading divisive messagesWhen the House reconvened ministers Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and Shambhuraj Desai criticised the opposition for not attending the allparty meetingVikhe Patil suggested Manoj Jarange should not trust opposition leaders noting a former Chief Ministers lack of support for the Maratha quotaManoj Jarange should understand who are real enemies of the Maratha quota he said as per the PTIDesai said the government intended to arrive at a consensus to resolve the quota issue but opposition leaders suddenly decided to boycott the meeting after agreeing to attend itThe opposition leaders who were not in Mumbai had agreed to join online but they backtracked he addedIn the legislative council proceedings were similarly disrupted after BJPs Pravin Darekar accused the opposition MVA of double standards for skipping the meetingDespite Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhes appeals the commotion forced an adjournment for the rest of the dayThe opposition parties double standards have been exposed in the House Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had invited political leaders to discuss the demand to include Marathas under the OBC category However the opposition parties refused to attend the meeting Darekar said according to the news agencyHis remarks prompted members of the opposition to raise antigovernment slogans plunging the Upper House into chaosDespite several appeals from Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe both sides refused to budge prompting her to adjourn the proceedings for the rest of the dayThe allparty meeting on the Maratha reservation issue was convened ahead of the assembly polls due in October and days before the expiry of the deadline set by Jarange for the state government to accept the communitys demands including quota under the Other Backward Classes OBC categoryLast month OBC quota activists Laxman Hake and Navnath Waghmare went on a hunger strike demanding that the draft notification that gives Kunbi certificates to Marathas to avail quota benefits under the OBC category be scrappedwith PTI inputs