Pawar meets Narayan Rane

NCP president Sharad Pawar today met the senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane at the latter's residence here.
NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said it was an "apolitical" meeting and Pawar visited Rane's house for 'darshan' of lord Ganesha on the occasion of Ganesh festival.
"Narayan Rane has been ailing for sometime. He also underwent angioplasty recently. So Pawar already had plans to meet him. He was invited for Ganesh darshan, so Pawar thought this was a good time to visit," Malik told PTI.
"If they wanted to talk about Maratha reservation or the Atrocities Act, they would not need the pretext of festive occasion," he said.

Both Pawar and Rane are from the politically dominant Maratha community, which is agitating for reservations, and recently, for abolition of the Prevention of Atrocities (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Act.
There were protest marches of the community in Aurangabad, Beed, Osmanabad and Parbhani in the last few days.
Pawar, out of power both at the Centre and in Maharashtra, has said the Atrocities Act should be reviewed. A section of Maratha community believes that the act is misused.
Rane too has called for a review of the Act. He has also backed the demand of reservations for Marathas in jobs and educational institutions.