Mumbai: On Tuesday, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said that the state government will not have jurisdiction to abolish the 50% quota cap. To clear this matter, it is the exclusive jurisdiction of the Central Government that can seek legislation changes in the Parliament. Subsequently, Thackeray also targeted the Eknath Shinde-led government regarding the protest over the Maratha reservation, saying that a solution should not be confined to political discussion.
Describing the reservation issue as a political matter, Uddhav Thackeray said: “The state does not have the authority to raise the reservation cap, which can only be done at the Lok Sabha level… My MPs will welcome this endeavour,” he told this correspondent. He demanded that this issue be left to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to decide, saying that people would accept whatever the Centre decided.
He also said that he wanted the ruling party to make clear its stand on whether it wants to put OBCs at a disadvantage; the High Court has put a halt to the Bihar government’s move on raising the reservations to 65%. He opined that Marathas disdained justice would not be obtained as long as the current regime was still in place.
Speaking on the occasion, Thackeray ridiculed his former associate as brutal while urging an end to what he deemed hostility within Maharashtra and across the Indian territory. He made the statement in response to charges levelled by former state home minister Anil Deshmukh charging Devendra Fadnavis, the Deputy CM. Deshmukh accused an ‘intermediary’ in the context of Fadnavis, who gave him the affidavits regarding Thackeray and other ministers, and Fadnavis refuted this.
Thackeray also spoke on the Dharavi slum redevelopment, saying that people affected later to be relocated should be relocated to the same area, not a new area in the city. He called for tactful and operational assessment in approach to the process of rehabilitation with more regard to the impact on the residents.
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