Members of Maharashtra's Maratha community may celebrate a small victory as the state government has announced that 16% jobs that are created and filled henceforth will go to them. However, the declaration came with a rider, that the reservation would be given only when the Bombay High Court endorses a recommendatory report of the backward class commission, which has been constituted to establish that the community needs such reservation in education and jobs.

The Maratha community constitutes a strong pressure group that can make or oust a government. The Congress had attempted to woo it but the HC rejected its proposal. The BJP, too, is pursuing a demand for reservation through an appeal before the court.