Maharashtra govt wants Maratha quota to be foolproof; no hasty decision: Shinde

The Maharashtra government wants to give quota to the Maratha community which will be foolproof and stands legal scrutiny but it wont take any hasty decision Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on Monday ahead of the allparty meetingDeputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the government will try for broad consensus on how to move forward on issues raised by Marathas and other communities at the meetingThe state government wants to give the Maratha community a reservation that will be foolproof and which will pass legal test We are not taking any decision in haste The state does not want to cheat anybody Shinde told reporters in MumbaiHe said the government needs to establish that the Maratha community is socially and educationally backward and also assure other communities that their quotas will not be affectedThe demand for Maratha quota is a social issue and not a political one I hope opposition parties will come up with some suggestions and avoid politicising the issue the chief minister said when asked about his expectations from the allparty meeting scheduled to be held in Mumbai this eveningHe pointed out that the state government is parallelly giving out several facilities and financial assistance to students from the Maratha community on par with the other backward communitiesFadnavis said the government would address the demands of various communities without politicising the quota issue and would try to arrive at a decision suitable to the interests of the stateAs the head of the state Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has called the allparty meeting today The agenda is to create a broad consensus over the Maratha quota issue Several organisations have also raised their demands regarding reservations he saidQueried about the decision of Manoj Jarange the quota activist who has been on hunger strike for the last 14 days to stop drinking water Fadnavis said The government needs to take a decision which will pass the legal test otherwise the community will blame us for misleading themHe said the state government wont take any decision which would bring two communities OBCs and Marathas face to faceJarange has demanded that all Marathas be given the Kunbi status which effectively means the OBC quotaThe rounds of talks held between the state government and the quota activist from Jalna district have remained inconclusive so farWe will not allow any injustice to happen to OBCs The state government will not take any decision which will bring two communities OBCs and Marathas face to face Fadnavis said in NagpurHe hoped that leaders of all communities would avoid giving statements that hurt the sentiments of any communityI want to assure OBCs that no injustice would be done to them the Deputy CM addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever