After OBC rally to counter Jarange Patil, Wadettiwar distances himself from Bhujbal
The Hindu
Congressman and Maharashtra Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Vijay Wadettiwar said there should not be any fight or rift between the OBC and the Maratha communities
A day after Minister and Other Backward Class (OBC) leader Chhagan Bhujbal’s broadside against activist Manoj Jarange Patil and the Maratha reservation issue, Congressman and Maharashtra Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Vijay Wadettiwar on November 19 said there should not be any fight or rift between the OBC and the Maratha communities.
Mr. Wadettiwar, an influential OBC leader from Vidarbha, had shared the dais with Mr. Bhujbal at a massive rally organised by OBC outfits in Jalna district on November 18 to counter Mr. Jarange Patil’s persistent demand of granting the Marathas a quota by giving them OBC certificates.
At the rally, Mr. Bhujbal, who has sharply voiced his opposition to Mr. Jarange Patil’s agitation, had warned that granting reservation to the Marathas from the OBC’s pie would lead to a showdown between the Marathas on one side and the OBCs and the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Muslims on the other.
Distancing himself from Mr. Bhujbal, a senior leader of the ruling Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction, Mr. Wadettiwar said he could not support the NCP’s leader’s stance.
“I cannot support Bhujbal’s stance. I will express my stance and that of the Congress. He [Mr. Bhujbal] belongs to another party,” Mr. Wadettiwar said during a tour of Nanded district on Sunday.
In an apparently conciliatory gesture towards Mr. Jarange Patil, the Congress leader said that his stance was not to create divisions between the two communities.
“We are of the opinion that OBCs should get their rights and that these rights ought to be safeguarded. At the same time, we do not want any schisms between the two communities. He [Jarange Patil] has a right to express demands for the Maratha community. The task of giving a quota to the Marathas rests with the State government,” Mr. Wadettiwar said.
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