“Part-Time Home Minister”: Supriya Sule Attacks D Fadnavis On Maratha Quota Row

Mumbai (Maharashtra):

Amid the ongoing Maratha reservation row in Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) working President Supriya Sule has launched a sharp attack on the Maharashtra government.

Ms Sule said that if the state home minister, Devendra Fadnavis, is unable to handle the situation, he should leave the cabinet rather than hold the post of “part-time Home Minister”.

Taking to ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), Supriya Sule wrote, “The car of a member of the state cabinet was vandalized by an angry mob. The Home Minister has failed miserably in maintaining the law and order situation”.

“If he is unable to handle this situation, it is preferable to leave the cabinet with dignity by simply resigning rather than holding the post of part-time Home Minister. The failure of the Home Minister is behind this situation”, she added.

राज्य मंत्रिमंडळातील एका सदस्याच्या गाडीची संतप्त जमावाकडून तोडफोड करण्यात आली. गृहमंत्र्यांना कायदा आणि सुव्यवस्थेची स्थिती राखण्यात सपशेल अपयश आले आहे. त्यांना हि परिस्थिती हाताळता येत नसेल तर पार्ट टाईम गृहमंत्रीपद सांभाळण्यापेक्षा सरळ राजीनामा देऊन सन्मानाने मंत्रिमंडळातून…

— Supriya Sule (@supriya_sule) November 1, 2023

The Maratha reservation issue has seen several incidents of violence in the past few days.

Earlier on Monday, NCP MLA Prakash Solanke’s residence in Maharashtra’s Beed was set on fire by a group of pro-Maratha reservation protestors.

Mr Solanke said that he and his family were safe adding that there was a huge loss of property due to fire.

The group of protestors also set the residences of NCP MLA Sandeep Kshirsagar and the state’s former minister Jay Kshirsagar on fire.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that everyone agreed on providing Maratha reservations in the all-party meeting held in Mumbai on Wednesday.

During an interaction with the reporters after the all-party meeting, CM Shinde said, “In the all-party meeting, everyone agreed that the Maratha community should get reservations. It was decided the reservation should be within the framework of the law and without doing injustice to other communities.”

The Chief Minister also requested people to maintain peace and cooperate with the government in its efforts.

“I request Manoj Jarange Patil to have faith in the efforts of the government. This protest has started taking a new direction. The incidents of violence that have taken place and are taking place in the state are unjustified and are bringing disrepute to the movement, we strongly reject these incidents. Common people should not feel insecure. I request all to not take law into their own hands and maintain peace and cooperate with the state government,” CM Shinde said.

Manoj Jarange Patil, the quota activist, has been sitting on an indefinite fast for over a week however says he will not give up his strike.

Speaking after the state Cabinet meeting got over Mr Patil said that he would continue his fast and would even give up water if the state does not begin issuing Kunbi certificates to the Maratha community.

“You tell us why do you need the time? What will you do? Make it clear and then we will decide if we can give you time. Whatever order the government has come up with is not acceptable. We want the Kunbi certificates to get reservation. We wont step back till we get this reservation. You can come here and tell us how you will give us reservation and how much time you need” said Jarange Patil in Jalna.

Marathas have been seeking reservations in education and government jobs.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)