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Mumbai: All political parties in Maharashtra have decided that the local body elections can be delayed until the State Backward Commission collects empirical data on Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and state government elections will have political implications for the community. Reservation is able to be restored.
All major political parties in Maharashtra participated in an all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday to discuss the way forward after the Supreme Court in May. Strike Reducing the political quota for OBCs in local bodies, saying it is crossing the 50 per cent limit. One such meeting was also held last week.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister Chhagan Bhujbal, an OBC leader, said, “We are trying to get empirical data from the Center and also wondering whether we can sample Can collect empirical data in the form of data. We have decided that while collecting the data, even if it takes a few months longer than expected, we should postpone the upcoming local elections. “
Amid the impending elections to 10 municipal corporations, including major municipal bodies in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nashik and Nagpur in February-March 2022, there is a consensus among the parties to push the election back. More civic elections for corporations and several city councils are expected at the end of next year.
OBCs comprise 52 per cent of Maharashtra’s population and include 382 castes. Though they do not vote for any party as a community, no party can afford to offend the OBCs.
After humiliating community leaders like Pankaja Munde and Eknath Khadse, the BJP wants to make amends with the OBCs. Shiv Sena needs community to increase its strength in Maharashtra, while Congress and NCP want to drop their ‘Maratha Party’ tag.
Moreover, leaders of all parties say that while every party has strongly supported the demand for Maratha reservation, it would be a political risk for OBCs not to show equal readiness.
“BJP has got a significant share of OBC votes in the last two elections, but if the MVA parties stick together, then the alliance will also be achieved with Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) consolidating OBC votes. Could stand, political commentator Pratap Asbe told ThePrint.
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BJP trying to strengthen OBC base
BJP staged many Protest Between June and July, against the MVA government for allegedly not taking timely action to defend the OBC reservation in the local body elections in the Supreme Court.
Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis after the all-party meeting on Friday said, “The most important thing is that what we are thinking today is what the Supreme Court had said for the first time on December 13, 2019.”
“If we had done this, neither the court would have ruled against it (OBC political reservation) and we would not have been in this situation. But, if we are doing it even after 20-21 months, we can still save OBC seats. But, it is clear that there has been a huge delay.”
For the BJP in Maharashtra, the OBC community has been important since the 1980s, when the party started actively reaching out to the community by promoting leaders like Gopinath Munde. The party was trying to capitalize on the political disenchantment that the OBCs were feeling with the Congress, which was seen as a Maratha-centric party.
BJP leaders, however, were concerned that the move to give reservation to the Maratha community might come after Fadnavis’s Brahmin background and the BJP-led government facing a wave of Maratha protests. Distance OBC.
Moreover, as Fadnavis’s grip on the BJP’s Maharashtra unit tightened, there was heartburn The former CM made his team among the people of old times.
Two prominent OBC leaders who felt distant were Munde and Khadse. Khadse Relieve The party will join the NCP in October 2020.
Fadnavis is trying to resolve his differences with the OBC community by becoming the face of the BJP’s protest against the MVA government on the issue of reservation. Talking to reporters on the issue in June, Fadnavis said“If the MVA government can’t give justice to OBCs, hand it over to us. I promise we will ensure OBC quota within four months. If I fail, I will take the political sannyas Always.”
BJP’s decision to select The addition of Bhagwat Karad and Kapil Patil from Maharashtra as junior ministers in the Union Cabinet is being seen as a move to appease the OBCs. Karad is a Vanjari like Munde, while Patil hails from the farming community, and his selection helps the BJP show that it is building a new legion of OBC leaders.
Congress, NCP want to remove ‘Maratha Party’ tag
The Congress and the NCP, traditionally considered the dominant Maratha parties, want to drop the tag to fight the BJP, which has expanded rapidly in Maharashtra over the past decade.
A senior Congress leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the party and the NCP were trying to exploit the resentment within the OBC community against the BJP to sideline leaders like Munde and Khadse.
“The Congress has appointed OBC leader Nana Patole as its state president. The NCP has promoted leaders like Dhananjay Munde and Jitendra Awhad and has included Khadse. But, we have also made mistakes like removing Patole from the constitutional post of Speaker first or refusing to re-nominate Manikrao Thackeray (an OBC leader) to the Upper House (in 2018),” said the senior Congress leader.
“We cannot protest the OBC community any more.”
Leaders in the Shiv Sena such as Bhujbal and Ganesh Naik, who had left the party in the 1990s, formed a base among the OBCs. However, at present, the party does not have any tall mass OBC leader.
“As long as the Shiv Sena was with the BJP, it benefited from the latter’s OBC following. Now, the Shiv Sena is seen as close to the NCP and Sharad Pawar, who is known as the Maratha talisman. Hence, the party needs to take the OBC community forward,” political analyst Hemant Desai told ThePrint.
(Edited by Arun Prashant)
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