Leaders should not play Marathas off against OBCs: Narayan Rane

Union minister Narayan Rane on Thursday said political leaders should not pit the Marathas and Other Backward Classes OBCs against each other.NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal recently received flak for saying that the existing OBC quota should not be touched while granting reservation to the Marathas.No political leader should play the Marathas off against OBCs, Rane said when asked by reporters here about Bhujbals stand.When I was heading a committee on Maratha reservation, I had given recommended 16 percent reservation.

Union minister Narayan Rane on Thursday said political leaders should not pit the Marathas and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) against each other.

NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal recently received flak for saying that the existing OBC quota should not be touched while granting reservation to the Marathas.

''No political leader should play the Marathas off against OBCs,'' Rane said when asked by reporters here about Bhujbal's stand.

''When I was heading a committee on (Maratha) reservation, I had given (recommended) 16 percent reservation. I did not touch the OBC quota. Marathas should get reservation as there are poor people in the community,'' the former chief minister said.

Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange ''is still young'' and should study how reservation is granted to any community under the Constitution, Rane said.

Marathas will not take quota from the OBCs (in the OBC category), he added.