The all-party meeting, initiated by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to deliberate on the state's circumstances in the wake of the heightened Maratha quota agitation, commenced in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (of the BJP), NCP president Sharad Pawar, senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, former CM Ashok Chavan (Congress), Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab, among others, were present in the meeting. An official in the Chief Minister's Office earlier said Shinde will apprise opposition leaders of the government's plans to handle the situation and seek their support.
CM has appealed to people not to resort to violence and also asked political parties to avoid indulging in any activities that would worsen the situation. The Maharashtra government published an order on Tuesday asking officials concerned to issue fresh Kunbi caste certificates to eligible Maratha community members, paving the way for them to avail reservation benefits under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category.
A government resolution (GR) asked the officials to translate old documents having references to Kunbis and written in Urdu and 'Modi' script (which was used to write Marathi language in earlier times). These documents are to be digitised, attested and then put in public domain.