Raut: There is a “gang war like” situation in the Maharashtra cabinet over the Maratha quota issue

Sanjay Raut, a Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, said on Thursday that the Maharashtra cabinet was experiencing a “gang war like” scenario due to the Maratha reservation issue.

In an interview with reporters in Mumbai, Raut said that a “weak” and “unstable” administration in charge of things was the reason for the caste division in society.

State Minister Shambhuraj Desai, however, called Raut’s remarks “laughable” and said that the Sena (UBT) leader has no development vision and just understands how to propagate rumors.

Raut said, “The ministries are at one other’s throats because the chief minister’s writ isn’t on them. The current state of affairs may lead to ministers abusing one another. The government is in the throes of a gang war.”

He was making reference to the recent verbal sparring between state ministers Shambhuraj Desai and Chhagan Bhujbal.

Prominent OBC leader Bhujbal said on Monday that the OBC would reject any “back door” efforts to give the Maratha minority reservations.

Desai later criticized Bhujbal’s remarks.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde asked his cabinet colleagues to proceed with prudence on the sensitive subject of Maratha reservation on Wednesday, expressing his dissatisfaction with their conflicting utterances.

According to Raut, caste division has never caused such societal division in Maharashtra.

He said that activist Manoj Jarange Patil has threatened to “choke” Mumbai and set a deadline of December 24 for the settlement of the Maratha quota dispute.

The Rajya Sabha member warned that Maharashtra’s reputation would suffer if the chief minister ignored the warning.

Desai, however, thought Raut’s comment about a “gang war like situation” was absurd.

The language used by a four-term MP is unexpected. Desai responded to a question from reporters by saying, “Raut could get into trouble if he relies on such information.”

He said that at the cabinet meeting, Chief Minister Shinde advised all of the ministers to be cautious while speaking with the media and to make sure that the government’s collective decision was not contradicted.

“Maharashtra doesn’t take Raut seriously because he knows only to spread rumours and has no development vision,” Desai said.

Hasan Mushrif, a different state minister, said that “we will resign as ministers” if Raut could show that the ministers practically came to blows at the cabinet meeting.