Spat between Sambhajiraje and Vijay Wadettiwar intensifies over Maratha-OBC reservation

Amid the ongoing tension over the Maratha reservation issue, the leaders from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government have been caught in words of war. 

On Saturday, BJP MP Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje said that Maharashtra Other Backward Classes (OBC) Minister Vijay Wadettiwar had suggested the inclusion of Marathas into the OBC category for reservation. 

Sambhajiraje said that he was told about this by Wadettiwar in a private conversation. Earlier in 2018, the Maharashtra government had provided 16 per cent reservation to Maratha community in education and government jobs under Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC) category.  

The Maratha community was given reservation under SEBC category and doesn’t want to be included in the OBC category, Sambhajiraje claimed to have told Wadettiwar. 

Refuting to the claims made by the BJP MP, Wadettiwar - senior Congress leader in Maharashtra - said that his stand has always been that OBC reservation shouldn’t be touched. 

This comes after the leaders from OBC and Dhangar community held a meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. In the meeting, it was decided that a cabinet sub-committee will be formed to give recommendations to the issues of both communities. 

Wadettiwar denied the claims that he had suggested inclusion of Marathas into the OBC category for reservation. While speaking about his conversation with Sambhajiraje, the minister said that he had suggested that if Maratha community wants to come under OBC category, they should add 12 per cent quota into the existing 27 per cent reservation for OBCs. 

“I told him that OBCs don’t oppose the reservation for Marathas but they can’t be given a share from the OBC quota,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the Uddhav Thackeray government postponed the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) exams again after the students and leaders from the Maratha community requested for the same.

However, the OBC leaders expressed their displeasure over the same. Wadettiwar and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chhagan Bhujbal - both ministers in the Uddhav Thackeray government - said that the exams shouldn’t be postponed as students from other communities who have prepared would suffer.

Also Read - Swords Will Be Drawn: BJP MP Sambhajiraje Warns MVA Government