Maratha quota: Congress plans no-confidence motion against CM

Building pressure on the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena coalition in Maharashtra on reservation for the Maratha community, the state Congress on Tuesday said it will table no-confidence and breach of privilege motions against Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Narayan Rane said the motions will be brought up during the winter session of the assembly in Nagpur in December.

"He is misleading. The state government failed to file an affidavit in the Bombay High Court on the issue," Rane told the media here.

"The Chief Minister is telling lies and cheating the Maratha community. We demand his resignation," Rane added.

He said on October 13, during a hearing of a public interest litigation on the issue, the state government's counsel had sought additional time till after Diwali vacations for collecting more information and filing its affidavit.

"However, a short while later, Fadnavis told media persons that the government had not sought more time. This is lying and misleading the Maratha community. The state failed to file its affidavit since November 14, 2014. This government is not serious about giving reservations to Marathas," the Congress leader said.

However, the Bharatiya Janata Party rejected Rane's demands outright and blamed the erstwhile Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine for messing up the Maratha reservation issue.

"The CM has not spoken any lies. As chairman of the Maratha Reservation Committee, I personally briefed him about the outcome in the High Court," said Education Minister Vinod Tawde.

He said it would been appropriate if Rane had studied the matter properly before making the allegations.

Tawde reiterated the government's commitment to providing reservation to the Maratha community.

The development came agaisnt the backdrop of the series of ongoing silent processions of the Marathas across Maharashtra for the past one month or so, demanding reservation in jobs and education, besides other issues.

--IANS

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