Maratha quota agitation: Fadnavis chairs meeting of party MLAs, senior leaders

Mumbai, Aug 2: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday chaired a meeting of party MLAs and senior leaders over Maratha reservation issue in Mumbai.

The Maratha Kranti Morcha (MKM) has given a call of statewide "jail bharo andolan" on August 9. The agitation, which is leaderless and unorganised has become a cause of concern for all political parties including Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

Fadnavis had earlier assured that his government is working towards granting reservation as they have set up a backward class commission to get evidence of social backwardness and ensure reservation was granted to the community.

The 1992 Supreme Court order states that if reservation quotas are to be hiked over 50 percent, "extraordinary circumstances and evidence of social backwardness" of the community must be shown by appointing a backward class commission. As of now, Maharashtra has 52 percent reservation for various categories including other backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in education and government jobs.

On Tuesday, the protests were largely calm after it had turned violent in Pune as agitators torched at least 40 buses and damaged another 50 on Monday.