Sharad Pawar meets Maharashtra CM ahead of Thackeray-PM Modi meeting

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at his official residence Varsha a day before the latter's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi today. According to sources, the two leaders discussed key issues to taken up before the Prime Minister.

A delegation of the Maharashtra Government led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi today to discuss issues like Maratha and OBC reservation and Cyclone Tauktae relief measures. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and state minister Ashok Chavan have already arrived at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport to attend the meeting with the Prime Minister on Tuesday.

On Monday, while addressing the reporters, Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil had said, "A delegation of Maharashtra government led by CM Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar will meet Prime Minister Modi in Delhi tomorrow. They will discuss issues like Maratha reservation, Other backward classes (OBC) reservation and Cyclone Tauktae relief." Last month, Uddhav Thackeray wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to take steps to declare the Maratha community in the state as Socially and Educationally Backward (SEBC) to enable them to claim the reservation in education and public employment at least to 12 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

"The Judgement delivered by the Constitution Bench (comprising five Judges) of the Supreme Court on May 5, 2021, has given me this occasion to write to you with the earnest request that appropriate steps be taken at the earliest to grant reservation to the Maratha community from my State, albeit in accordance with the law, to the minimum extent of 12 per cent in Education and 13 per cent in Public Employment," the Maharashtra Chief Minister had written. A five-judge Constitution Bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, Hemant Gupta and Ravindra Bhat in its judgment said that that people from the Maratha community cannot be declared as educationally and socially backward community to bring them within the reserved category.