Veiled swipe: Pankaja Munde says she would not have delayed Maratha quota decision

Mumbai, July 27: In a veiled swipe at Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the Maratha reservation issue, his cabinet colleague Pankaja Munde said she would not have delayed the decision if she were incharge.

"Had the file of Maratha reservation been on my table, I would not have delayed it even for a moment. This issue is being delayed as it is pending in the high court," Munde said while speaking to Maratha protesters at Parli in Beed district.

The politically influential Maratha community's renewed agitation for quota in jobs and education has rocked the state for the last three days.

Munde, a BJP leader and the Rural Development minister, told the protesters that she had come to listen to them, and she will not ask them to make a compromise.

"Do not give up your lives over the issue," she said, adding that she would demand a special session of the Maharashtra Legislature to discuss the quota demand.

Munde's veiled attack on Fadnavis comes against the backdrop of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut's claim that there were "talks within the BJP" to replace the chief minister after the Maratha quota agitation turned violent yesterday.

However, two senior BJP ministers -- Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil and Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar -- have rubbished Raut's claim.