Maha MPs should meet PM on Karnataka border, quota issues: Thackeray

Maharashtra MPs should Modi and raise the issues of incorporating into the state areas in Karnataka where Marathi-speaking people are in majority, Thackeray

Maharashtra MPs should meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and raise the issues of incorporating into the state areas in Karnataka where Marathi-speaking people are in majority and also the Maratha quota, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Thursday.

Thackeray made the suggestions to all-party MPs during a meeting he held here ahead of Parliaments budget session which begins on January 29.

Addressing reporters after the meeting, the chief minister said he urged the Parliamentarians to raise the issues concerning the state before the Centre keeping aside political differences.

The meeting held at the Sahyadri Guest House here was also attended by Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale, Maharashtra ministers Eknath Shinde, Ashok Chavan, Jayant Patil, Subhash Desai and others.

I told them (MPs) what are the states expectations from them and issues they should raise in Delhi. Like the one of Maratha quota.

"All the MPs should come together and meet the prime minister on the issue, Thackeray told reporters after the meeting.

The MPs should meet the prime minister also on the issue of Karnataka-occupied areas and the long-standing demand of the people there to be incorporated in Maharashtra, Thackeray said.

Maharashtra claims certain areas, including Belgaum, Karwar and Nippani which are part of Karnataka, contending the majority of population there is Marathi-speaking.

Thackeray said he asked the MPs to follow up with the Centre on the issue of sharing Maharashtras pending GST share dues as well.

The Chief Minister said division and subject-wise committees of MPs will be formed to follow up with the issues they raise with the state government.

The Maratha quota issue is pending in the Supreme Court where constitutional validity of the 2018 reservation law has been challenged.