Uddhav Thackeray
A Congress delegation led by party’s state president Balasaheb Thorat met Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday to formally raise the demand for reservations for SC/ST entrepreneurs in government contracts and projects.
Thackeray told the delegation that he will discuss the issue in the coming cabinet meeting.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi had on December 14 written to Thackeray, stating the demand and also pushing for various other welfare activities for the SC/ST communities.
In the letter, dated December 14, Gandhi reminded Thackeray of the common minimum programme (CMP) of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government and sought implementation of certain measures for the welfare of Dalits and tribals.
She demanded reservation in government contracts for SC/ST professionals to promote entrepreneurship among them, among other things.
The letter was significant as Gandhi has written to Thackeray for the first time since her party and the NCP formed an unlikely alliance with the Shiv Sena last year.
The three parties had worked out the CMP before forming the alliance after the 2019 Assembly elections. Sonia ji is guiding us the way honourable (NCP President) Sharad Pawar ji does. “The only difference is instead of meeting in person, a letter (written by Gandhi) was shared (with the Chief Minister), Thorat said.
There is a fable about a venomous serpent which often bit people and sucked their lives out through its poison. Counselled by a sage, the repentant snake decided to renounce its violent ways. Days later, when the revered master was passing by the same route, he saw the reptile lying in a piteous state by the roadside. The grievously injured snake complained that since it had stopped biting people, they overcame their fear and pelted it with stones. Alas, said the sage, along with biting, you also gave up hissing.
The letter by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray indicates that the party seems to have taken a leaf out of that snake’s book by deciding to hiss and underline its nuisance value.
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Sonia s letter to Maharashtra CM not out of resentment: Balasaheb Thorat
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Last Updated: Dec 19, 2020, 04:34 PM IST
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Synopsis
In the letter dated December 14, she demanded reservation in government contracts for SC/ST professionals to promote entrepreneurship among them, among other things.
Maharashtra revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat
Mumbai: Maharashtra Congress president Balasaheb Thorat on Saturday said that Sonia Gandhi has written a letter to state Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray not out of resentment, but as part of a dialogue process. Gandhi has written a letter to Thackeray, in which she has reminded him of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in the state and sought implementation of certain measures for the welfare of Dalits and tribals.