Lok Sabha polls: Maratha quota, infrastructure key issues in Maharashtra

Counting of votes will be held on June 4.The Maratha reservation demand has dominated the states political landscape since the Supreme Court struck down the 2018 Act of the state which provided quota in education and jobs to the Maratha community.Opposition parties have been demanding that the Union government bring in a constitutional amendment to scrap the 50 per cent cap on reservations.Activist Manoj Jarange demanded that the entire Maratha community should be given quota in the OBC category by identifying them as Kunbi.

The Maratha reservation demand, big-ticket infrastructure development and farmers' problems would be prominent issues during the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, which elects the second highest number of members of the Lower House, after Uttar Pradesh.

Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20. Counting of votes will be held on June 4.

The Maratha reservation demand has dominated the state's political landscape since the Supreme Court struck down the 2018 Act of the state which provided quota in education and jobs to the Maratha community.

Opposition parties have been demanding that the Union government bring in a constitutional amendment to scrap the 50 per cent cap on reservations.

Activist Manoj Jarange demanded that the entire Maratha community should be given quota in the OBC category by identifying them as Kunbi. Kunbis, an agrarian community, fall in the OBC category.

But Chhagan Bhujbal, a senior minister from the NCP and prominent OBC leader, opposed the demand, stating that Marathas should not get a share in the OBC quota.

Bhujbal took a defiant stand even though the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-BJP-NCP government was sympathetic to the quota demand. It set up the Sandeep Shinde committee to examine pre-1967 Kunbi records.

Jarange has maintained that Marathas and Kunbis are socially and culturally very close.

Another of his demands was that if a Maratha person could produce a record showing that he or she can be identified as Kunbi, the person's ''sage-soyre'' (blood relatives) from both father's and mother's side be recognised as Kunbi.

But the government issued a notification stating that ''sage soyre'' would be the relatives from a person's father's side.

The government subsequently enacted a fresh legislation providing 10 per cent quota to Marathas. But some Maratha organisations claimed that it would not stand judicial scrutiny, and the overall quota in the state now exceeds 50 per cent.

The central government should create a separate category under the Economically Weaker Section category and provide a 10 per cent quota to farming communities, these organisations demanded.

OBCs constitute 34 per cent of Maharashtra's population while Marathas account for 28 per cent.

Traditionally, the OBCs supported the BJP and Shiv Sena, while the Marathas backed the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party. But after 2014, many Marathas shifted to the BJP, according to political observers.

The ruling coalition in Maharashtra will highlight the big-ticket infrastructure projects fully or partially completed in its tenure, including the 701-km Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway, 21.8-km Mumbai Trans Harbour link (MTHL), Mumbai Coastal Road and Metro rail projects.

It would also claim credit for removing bottlenecks in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, and the launch of Vande Bharat trains from Mumbai to Shirdi, Solapur and Jalna.

Another campaign point for the ruling coalition will be the payment of additional money to farmers under the Namo Shetkari Maha Samman scheme.

It will also highlight the `one rupee' crop insurance scheme launched last year.

The opposition has accused the government of doing nothing to stop farmer suicides and not ensuring adequate MSP for crops.

The Union government's policy of banning or restricting exports of crops like onion to check price rise in the domestic market is another issue that could figure in the campaign.

On the issue of political realignment in the state, the BJP would target Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray for `betraying' the mandate of 2019 state elections by breaking his pre-poll alliance with the saffron party.

Observers feel that the war of words will intensify as Lok Sabha elections would be followed by assembly elections later this year.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)