Not official stand of NCP: Patel on Bhujbal criticising govt's handling of Maratha quota stir

Mumbai: NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) leader Praful Patel on Sunday said the criticism of the Maharashtra government by senior leader and minister Chhagan Bhujbal on its handling of the Maratha quota protest is not the official stand of the party.

Bhujbal has echoed the stand of Samata Parishad, an Other Backward Class (OBC) organisation headed by him, and not of the Nationalist Congress Party, Patel told reporters.

Bhujbal questioned the "backdoor entry" of Marathas into the OBC grouping after the Maharashtra government accepted the demands of activist Manoj Jarange.

Jarange withdrew the agitation on Saturday after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced that till Marathas got the reservation, they would be given all the benefits enjoyed by the OBCs.

The state government also issued a draft notification stating that blood relatives of a Maratha person, who has records to show that he belongs to the agrarian Kunbi community, would also be recognised as Kunbi, a community which gets the reservation under the OBC category.