MVA failed to make strong argument on Maratha quota in SC: BJP

The former state minister said the Uddhav Thackeray government did not provide sufficient socio-economic data on Marathas to its advocates to convincingly argue their case in the Supreme Court, where the quota issue is pending after the 2018 law was challenged.In a statement issued here, Patil said, The Maharashtra government failed in making a strong argument before the Supreme Court for seeking reservation for the Maratha community.

Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil on Wednesday said the Shiv Sena-led MVA government has ''failed'' to make a strong argument before the Supreme Court in favour of granting reservation in jobs and education to the Maratha community. The former state minister said the Uddhav Thackeray government did not provide sufficient socio-economic data on Marathas to its advocates to convincingly argue their case in the Supreme Court, where the quota issue is pending after the 2018 law was challenged.

In a statement issued here, Patil said, The Maharashtra government failed in making a strong argument before the Supreme Court for seeking reservation for the Maratha community. ''The government did not provide sufficient data to its advocates, who failed to make a strong pitch (in favour of quota).

The future of the Maratha community appears to be grim now, he said. ''Ministers and advocates did not even go to Delhi to make their arguments. There was no coordination among ministers and advocates, Patil claimed.

Former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, when he headed the BJP-led government, had made economic provisions for Marathas on the lines of those for the OBCs so that their financial burden could be eased to some extent, he said. ''We (when in power) had waived educational fee for 642 courses for Maratha community students similar to students from OBCs. This provision should be reintroduced,'' Patil said.