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Gopinath Munde bats for OBC reservation

Says he is willing to work for a national movement of the OBCs under the leadership of Chhagan Bhujbal; political observers are of the opinion that the two are launching a pressure group in the state.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Gopinath Munde, demanded that there should be a reservation for Other Backward Castes (OBC) among women candidates in the assemblies and Lok Sabha, on Saturday. He also disclosed his desire to work on a national movement for the OBCs.

“The OBC women should have a separate quota. I will persevere with my party to see my point of view on this,” Munde said, while speaking at a felicitation function by the All India Muslim OBC Organisation at Birla Matoshree Auditorium. Deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal was also present at the function.

Munde also demanded that OBCs’ count be included during the upcoming census exercise. “OBCs’ count should be included in the census. It has not been done so far because some people fear that the OBCs will come together once they know their true strength. This will be the first time that OBCs will not be taken into consideration in the census, which includes the count of cattle and domestic animals too,” he said.

Munde said that he was willing to work for a national movement of OBCs, under the leadership of Bhujbal. Bhujbal said the budgetary allocation for OBCs was not being utilised fully. “Even the allocation for SC/STs remains unutilised to a great extent. There should be 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in the Lok Sabha,” he said.

Munde’s statement has surprised political observers. “Munde has been reportedly sulking in the BJP since the last three years. His desire to work with Bhujbal, another heavyweight OBC, is an indication that he wants to launch an OBC pressure group in the state,” an observer said.

Munde had said that had he left the Jan Sangh and continued working for the RSS he would have been able to do some social work. “But once you join the BJP there is no exit,” he said at the party’s state conclave in Jalgaon.

There were reports before the last year’s assembly election that Munde and Bhujbal could come together to launch a separate political outfit. Both of them refuted the reports.

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