Various communities in Maharashtra have been demanding a quota. The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the Bombay High Court’s order by rejecting a plea to include the Dhangar community in the Scheduled Tribes (STs). The verdict has come when the ruling alliance and opposition bloc are trying to woo the Dhangars, among other communities, that influence the Lok Sabha results depending on their respective strength. Cropping up of the Dhangar issue while the Maratha reservation stir threatens to impact the ongoing elections, does not augur well for the ruling dispensation because the Opposition will hold the NDA responsible. The Opposition may promise to fulfill the demand, if voted to power in Parliament (which has powers to decide such matters), but it will have to be cautious because it cannot afford to upset STs, who are opposed to Dhangar’s demand for Adivasi status; exactly the same way, the OBCs don’t want Marathas to share their quota. All parties will have to walk a tightrope in this regard.

With political realignment in the state, the BJP needed friends of varied influence. It has fielded Dhangar community’s well-known leader Mahadev Jankar in Parbhani as the NDA candidate, though his first choice was Madha. Before BJP persuaded him, Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP) had attempted to take Jankar in the MVA, because of the Dhangar influence in certain pockets of western Maharashtra and Marathwada. It is said that to make up for the loss, Pawar has managed to have another Dhangar leader Uttam Jankar and a few others, on his side.