Bhujbal meets Pawar to discuss Maratha quota

Mumbai: Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday met NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar at his residence here and sought his intervention into the Maratha quota issue and objections over it by OBC leaders. Speaking to reporters later, Bhujbal said had a meeting with Pawar for nearly one-and-a half-hours and the latter told him that he would discuss the matter with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and other leaders in the next two days.

Bhujbal, an OBC leader who belongs to the rival NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, met former Union minister Sharad Pawar at his ‘Silver Oak’ residence in Mumbai. The visit came a day after his veiled attack at Sharad Pawar for the opposition’s boycott of an all-party meeting on the Maratha quota issue. Leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which comprises the Congress, NCP (SP) and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), did not turn up at the all-party meeting convened by CM Shinde on July 9, claiming the opposition was not taken into confidence on the Maratha reservation issue.

Bhujbal on Sunday claimed the opposition leaders stayed away from the meeting on July 9 “after a phone call from Baramati at 5 pm.”