BJP will raise MVA’s ‘failure’ to defend OBC quota in local bodies in winter session, demand CBI probe in exam scam: Devendra Fadnavis

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The BJP will raise the Maharashtra government’s “failure” in protecting the reservation for OBCs in local bodies in the winter session of the state legislature beginning Wednesday, opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis said on Tuesday.

The BJP will also demand a CBI probe into alleged malpractices in the recruitment process for various departments of the state government, he said.

Speaking to reporters here, the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly said the BJP will raise the “messed up” disbursement of crop insurance to calamity-hit farmers among other issues on the floor of the legislature.

“It is the Maharashtra government’s complete failure to collect the empirical data. Such data would have supported the OBC reservation in local body polls. That is why these elections are being held (on Tuesday) without the OBC reservation,” the former chief minister said.

The Supreme Court had last week directed the Maharashtra State Election Commission to notify 27 per cent of seats in the local bodies, which were reserved for the OBCs, as the general category so that the poll process can be taken forward.

In March this year, the apex court had said that the reservation in favour of OBCs in local bodies in Maharashtra cannot exceed an aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs taken together.

“The Maharashtra government had informed the Supreme Court that it would need at least three months to gather empirical data to support its demand for the OBC quota in local governing bodies. However, it did not work. Due to this, local body polls are held without an OBC quota. We will try to corner the state government on this issue,” Fadnavis said.

He said the MVA government has wasted almost two years but even after that, it failed to protect the OBC reservation.

Fadnavis said the Opposition will reiterate its demand for a CBI inquiry into alleged exam scam in recruitment for various departments.

” Links of these malpractices have now reached the Mantralaya. I do not think the police will dare to touch someone so powerful who is involved in such malpractices, hence we demand a CBI inquiry,” he added.

Pune Police have arrested Maharashtra State Council of Examination’s (MSCE) commissioner Tukaram Supe and his predecessor Sukhadev Dere in connection with alleged malpractices in the 2018 Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET).

The alleged malpractices in the TET came to the light during the investigation into the bid to leak a paper of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) examination, in which six people have already been arrested, according to police.

Fadnavis said the BJP will also raise issues of the farmer victims of natural calamities not receiving sufficient financial assistance from the state government.

“In many cases, the Maharashtra government is sitting idle on funds given by the Union government instead of disbursing it to farmers,” Fadnavis alleged.

He said the suspension of 12 MLAs of BJP in the monsoon session of the state legislature amounted to “tanashahi” (autocracy).

“The 12 MLAs were suspended for an action that allegedly took place inside the cabin of the speaker. Nobody was there to crosscheck what had happened. It (the alleged ruckus) did not happen on the floor of the Legislative Assembly,” he claimed.

Fadnavis said 27 states had followed in the footsteps of the Union government in slashing the excise duty on petrol and diesel but Maharashtra.

“MVA government says it didn’t reduce VAT on petrol and diesel fearing a revenue loss. But at the same time, the state government has cut duties on foreign liquor by 50 per cent. This reminds me of a slogan of cheap liquor and costly oil which was coined when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister,” he said.