Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar demands apology from Congress leader Nana Patole for his reservation remarks
Oct 26, 2024
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 26 : Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar on Saturday demanded an apology from Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole for making an anti-reservation stance and said that Baba Saheb Ambedkar's Constitution has given the reservation to the people, not the Congress.
"I demand an apology from Nana Patole towards the people of Maharashtra... He should apologise to all the sections that get reservations. Rahul Gandhi said in the US that they will scrap the Constitution and Nana Patole is defending it... Is Nana Patole trying to say that reservation was never needed?... Bharat Ratna Baba Saheb Ambedkar's Constitution has given the reservation to us, not the Congress," Shelar told ANI.
Congress leader Nana Patole's statement over 'ending reservation debate' has sparked a political controversy as he endorsed the remark made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the reservation.
"What Rahul Gandhi say? What he said over there, "ki jab hamare desh mai sb barabari ke honge tab hum log reservation ke barai mai sochenge. Iske galat kya hai? (What is wrong in this?)," Nana Patole reportedly said during an interview to a news channel.
Notably in September while interacting with students and faculty at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, Rahul Gandhi said that the Congress party would think of scrapping reservations when India becomes a "fair place," which it is not.
On the MVA seat sharing, the Mumbai BJP President Shelar said that "betraying their friends" has been the approach of the UTB Shiv Sena.
"We have suffered from it... Congress had plans to contest and win more than 100 seats is now limited to 90... Sharad Pawar's party also got a few more seats... Uddhav Thackeray is enjoying all of this... A party that does not think of anyone but themselves is UBT," Shelar said.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance has revealed its seat-sharing arrangement for 255 constituencies, assigning 85 seats to each party. The remaining 23 seats in the state Assembly will be allocated based on their respective party candidate lists.
The Maharashtra Assembly elections are scheduled for November 20, with counting for all 288 constituencies set for November 23.
In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP won 105 seats, the Shiv Sena 56, and the Congress 44. In 2014, the BJP secured 122 seats, the Shiv Sena 63, and the Congress 42.
