Kolhapur: Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil on Thursday levelled corruption charges against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) while asserting that it is the state government’s responsibility to assure that the Maratha community gets reservation.
Addressing a press meet here, he averred that the BJP’s firm stance is that the Marathas should get a reservation and added that the MVA is shying away from the pertinent issue, taking cover of the COVID crisis.
The tripartite MVA should immediately constitute a new backward commission to resolve the matter, he told, clarifying that there is no coldness in his relationship with party MP Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje Bhosale.
Mr Bhosale, a royal descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, recently embarked on a state tour as the Supreme Court has stayed the quota implementation.
Be it Sambhajiraje or anyone, the BJP will stand behind those leading the quota agitation, Mr Patil asserted.
Commenting on a scheduled meet between the MP and Sharad Pawar, he told, “Sambhajiraje has the freedom to meet anyone, anywhere.”
When asked about MP Sambhajiraje not being given an appointment with the PM, he reiterated, “The reservation issue is a subject of the state government.”
“The MP didn’t get to meet the PM despite requesting on four instances. But, Mr Modi respects the MP and the premier has met him 40 times earlier,” he lamented.
Meanwhile, Mr Patil welcomed ten members of the Matheran Municipal Council who left the Shiv Sena and entered the BJP.
Claiming that the MVA would not last long, he alleged that the CM Uddhav- led government resorted to corruption during the pandemic.
Substantiating his claim, he told that the MVA has priced the Shiv Bhojan meal at Rs 5 but the government-favoured contractors are selling it at Rs 380 at COVID centres.
He apprised that the state BJP will run the ‘Seva hech Sanghtan’ campaign to mark BJP’s completion of seven years at the Centre.
The campaign will reach one lakh villages across the country, with 20,000 of them in Maharashtra. The party workers will collect 50,000 bottles of blood and set up COVID centres in villages, he said.(UNI)