Bitter critic Raut credits Fadnavis for addressing Maratha quota agitation

    Mumbai, Sept 3 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday credited Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for resolving the Maratha quota agitation and ending the activist Manoj Jarange’s hunger strike, in a rare appreciation of the BJP leader.
    However, his party colleague Sushma Andhare wasn’t impressed. She claimed that the government had deceived the activist.
    Talking to reporters, Raut said Fadnavis worked behind the scenes and was involved in deliberations with the cabinet sub-committee on the Maratha reservation.
    Raut said if the government has addressed the issue and saved Jarange’s life, then it should be welcomed.
    “Devendra Fadnavis was involved in the deliberations to resolve the issue. He was working in the background. All credit must go to Fadnavis,” said the Sena (UBT) leader.
    Referring to the harsh criticism of the CM by Jarange and Maratha protesters, Raut said, “I will also laud Fadnavis’s patience.”
    Raut has been a bitter critic of the BJP and Fadnavis.
    He, however, claimed that when Jarange came to Mumbai to launch his fast, BJP leaders spoke a different language. The BJP leader, barring Fadnavis, tried to “spread extreme hate”, Raut claimed.
    The Sena (UBT) targeted Deputy CMs Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde over the Maratha agitation.
    “Where were Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar? Why did they not participate in the deliberations? Did they wish that the issue should aggravate and Fadnavis be in the soup,” Raut said.
    Jarange on Tuesday declared victory on the fifth day of his fast after the Maharashtra government accepted most of his demands, including granting eligible Marathas Kunbi caste certificates, which will make them eligible for reservation in benefits available to Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
    Senior BJP minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who heads the cabinet sub-committee on Maratha reservation, met Jarange before the announcement.
    The government issued a resolution on the Hyderabad gazetteer and announced the formation of village-level committees to facilitate the issuance of Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas who can produce documentary evidence recognising them as Kunbis in the past.
    Sena (UBT) leader Sushma Andhare claimed that the government hoodwinked Jarange, and this would be clear once the government resolution (GR) issued by it on Maratha reservation is implemented.
    Talking to reporters, she said there is a difference between a GR and legislation.
    It was expected that a law would be brought in. The government issued a GR on the implementation of the Hyderabad gazetteer, but not Satara, she said.
    If a law can be challenged, then why can’t a GR be, asked Andhare.
    “I feel there is hoodwinking by the government. We will come to know about it after two months when the GR is implemented,” she said.
    On the one hand, the government issued a GR, while on the other, those close to the ruling party will challenge it, she claimed. Earlier in the day, NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal, a prominent leader from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) said he would move the court against the GR.
    Andhare accused the government of trying to malign the Maratha quota protest and reduce the sympathy it had generated. There was also “psychological pressure” to vacate Azad Maidan by 4 pm (on Tuesday), she claimed.
    “In such circumstances, it is unbelievable that the agitation ends after a sub-committee comes to hold discussions on it,” she added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)