Mumbai: The Eknath Shinde government is responsible for the delay in providing reservation to the Maratha community, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said on Monday.
The then Congress-led government had provided quota to the community before the 2014 assembly polls but this ordinance was not concerted into an act by the Devendra Fadnavis dispensation that followed, he claimed.
Fadnavis had promised to give quota to the Maratha, Dhangar and Halba communities at the time but did nothing on this front, Patole added.
"If Fadnavis is in power (he is deputy chief minister in the Shinde government), then there is no point in blaming the opposition for the government's failure to provide quota. Opposition parties have held numerous meetings on Maratha reservation. But ultimately it is up to the state government to take the decision," he said.
Criticising Union Home Minister Amit Shah for calling NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar as "sargana" of corruption, Patole said the NDA government had given the opposition stalwart Padma Vibhushan.
"It is perplexing that he's now being portrayed as the ringleader of corruption. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the real ringmaster of corruption in this country," Patole claimed.
Addressing the BJP's state convention in Pune on Sunday, Shah had said, "If there is the biggest 'sargana' of corruption in Indian politics, it is Sharad Pawar. There is no confusion in my mind about this. I am saying it openly that Pawar has institutionalised corruption in the country." Patole also alleged the recent violence at Vishalgad fort in Kolhapur district was state-sponsored.
"Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made comments related to encroachment at the Vishalgad fort. The locals had already requested the district collector and other officials that there might be a protest at the fort, but it was not addressed," Patole alleged.
Published 23 July 2024, 01:17 IST