Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis interacts with the media at the Maharashtra Assembly, on the first day of the budget session, in Mumbai, Thursday, March 3, 2022.
Accusing the Maharashtra government of being "dishonest" about protecting the reservation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local bodies elections, senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said it should take steps on the lines of Madhya Pradesh for safeguarding the political quota of the community.
His statement comes a day after the Supreme Court said it is "not possible" to permit any authority to act upon the recommendation made in the interim report of the state Backward Classes Commission, which has said that up to 27 per cent reservation can be granted to OBCs in the local bodies in Maharashtra, subject to the condition that the total quota shall not exceed 50 per cent limit. The budget session of the Maharashtra legislature began on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters in the premises of Vidhan Bhavan, the state legislature complex here, Fadnavis said, "The Madhya Pradesh government has clearly informed the Supreme Court that conducting elections of local governing bodies is its own prerogative. The MP government said it is also willing to complete the empirical data collection for the OBC quota in a stipulated time."
"The Maharashtra government should replicate it and make necessary changes in the law for this time to take the rights of scheduling local governing body election from State Election Commission (SEC). We are ready to cooperate with the state government over it," he said.
The Maharashtra government should complete the process of collecting empirical data in the next two months, issue OBC quota based on it and then conduct the elections of municipal corporations and zilla parishads, the former chief minister said.
The five-year tenure of some 15 municipal corporations and 25 zilla parishads will be completed this month. If their elections are held without any political quota to the OBCs, then the community will suffer for the next five years, Fadnavis said.
"The Maharashtra government has been dishonest over protecting the political reservation of the OBCs in local governing bodies. That's why the Supreme Court refused to accept the commission's interim report yesterday. It is a tight slap on the face of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government," he alleged. The MVA comprises Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress.
The government on Friday issued an order to fill 30 posts in state Backward Classes Commission on contract basis, which itself underscores how little serious this government was in last two years, he said.
BJP demands Nawab Malik's resignation
Earlier in the day, BJP legislators held a protest on the steps of the Vidhan Bhavan to press for their demand of state minister Nawab Malik's removal from the cabinet following his arrest by the ED in a money laundering case. The BJP legislators initiated a signature campaign to seek Nawab's removal from the cabinet. All BJP members in the Assembly and the Council and also belonging to its allied parties sat on the steps of Vidhan Bhavan to protest against Malik.
Malik, state Minority Develoment Minister and NCP's chief spokesperson, was arrested last week by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering probe linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.
"Malik has bought land from people accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. His act is anti-national and we are demanding his removal from state cabinet," a BJP leader said.
The legislators also raised slogans against the MVA government for failing to secure OBC reservation in local governing bodies during a hearing before the Supreme Court on Thursday.
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