Community claims Marathas in Cong, NCP have connived to put their leader behind bars.
Community claims Marathas in Cong, NCP have connived to put their leader behind bars.
Claiming that the Maratha lobby in the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have deliberately entrapped Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader and former deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal and sent him behind bars, all OBC communities have decided to protest in Nashik on October 3. The protest will demand that Bhujbal, arrested in a money laundering case, be freed from prison.
In a recent meeting held in Nashik, several party leaders belonging to the OBC community decided to pressure the state to release Bhujbal from prison.
In the wake of continuous protests by Maratha community being held across the state, leaders of the OBC community held a meeting at Nashik last week. Former Maharashtra Navnirman Sena legislator Vasant Gite and Shiv Sena MP Hemant Godse were also present at the meeting. (However, Mr Gite later denied he had been part of the meeting). The meeting was organised by Samata Parishad, which was formed by Bhujbal.
According to professor Shravan Deore, state convenor of OBC council, the agenda of the meeting was to raise OBC issues along with release of Bhujbal. “We feel that Maratha leaders have suppressed the leadership of Bhujbal who had organised a huge rally of OBCs in Bihar, Rajasthan and Gujarat. He emerged as a national-level OBC leader and that’s why the Maratha leadership of his party probably got him in trouble,” he said.
Sanjay Kokare, president of NT-OBC party, said Bhujbal is not just leader of the Mali community (to which he belongs), but of the whole OBC community.
Meanwhile, Mr Gite agreed some Samata Parishad leaders had visited his office and the protest was discussed. “But, it does not mean that I had attended the meeting. Protest on OBC issues and the Samata Parishad’s protests are different,” he said.
Meanwhile, after BJP minister Pankaja Munde met Bhujbal in JJ Hospital two days ago, Jayant Patil, senior NCP leader and former minister, met him on Friday. Mr Patil reached the hospital in the afternoon and spent about 30 minutes with Bhujbal. It remained undisclosed what was discussed at the meeting.
