Beed, Oct 1 (PTI) The Nationalist Congress Party will allot 10 per cent of seats from its quota to candidates from the minority community in the Maharashtra assembly polls, party president and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said on Tuesday.
Notably, the Mahayuti alliance of Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP suffered a drubbing in the recent Lok Sabha elections, with the Ajit Pawar-led party losing three of the four constituencies it had contested.
Addressing Jan Sanman Yatra, Pawar said women beneficiaries of the “Mukhyamantri Mazi Ladki Bahin Yojana” scheme will receive Rs 3,000 for October and November before the model code of conduct kicks in.
“I want to tell the minority community. We have decided to allot 10 per cent of the seats to be contested by the NCP to minority (candidates),” Pawar said.
Interestingly, Pawar’s assurance on representing the minority community (read Muslims) at the hustings comes a day after senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis claimed “vote jihad” was witnessed in 14 of 48 constituencies in Maharashtra in recent Lok Sabha elections.
Fadnavis attributed the defeat of the BJP candidate from the Dhule constituency to the “vote jihad”.
Stressing that he believes in all religions and is a follower of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, and B R Ambedkar, Pawar expressed displeasure over some motormouth leaders criticising a section of society.
He was alluding to the controversial comments made by BJP MLA Nitesh Rane, leading to the registration of FIRs against him for delivering hate speech.
Pawar, who holds the Finance portfolio, said the Mahayuti government allotted Rs 3,000 during Raksha Bandhan to sisters under the Ladki Bahin scheme, the flagship monthly cash transfer initiative of the state government.
“Similarly on bhau beej (Diwali), my sisters and mothers will not go empty-handed. They will get their gift for sure. This is my word,” he said.
Under this scheme, eligible women get Rs 1,500 every month in their bank accounts.
Speaking at a conclave organised by a media house recently, Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar had claimed that the seat-sharing formula among Mahayuti allies was restricted to just 80 seats as the ruling coalition has the support of 208 MLAs and there was no need to discuss those assembly segments.
The elections to the 288-member House are likely to be held in November. PTI PR NSK
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