Sonia Gandhi reminds Sena chief Uddhav Thackrey of 'commitments'

Congress party has once again asserted itself in the Maharashtra Government as the party president Sonia Gandhi has conveyed to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackrey about the "commitments" of Maha Vikas Aghadi.

New Delhi: As Congress is in alliance with Shiv Sena and NCP in Maharashtra, Sonia Gandhi reminds that the state Government must implement the Common Minimum Programme in letter and spirit.

While speaking over the matter, Maharashtra Congress in-charge HK Patil said, "As a partner of Maharashtra Maha Vikas Aghadi, the Congress Party has delineated its commitment towards expansion and expediting the developmental agenda through welfare schemes for disadvantaged downtrodden as main agenda in its common minimum programme."

He informed about the initiatives suggested by Sonia Gandhi, which includes, "The budget allocation for the development of SC/ST communities should be proportionate to their share in the population. Focus may be on the schemes that benefit SC/ST communities to bring them on par with rest of the society at the earliest. There should be legislative backing to utilize the funds allocated during the same financial year on the lines of Karnataka and undivided Andhra Pradesh (laws enacted by the previous Congress governments)."

The Congress President further suggested, "To stimulate entrepreneurship in SC/ST communities, reservation in government contracts and projects for enterprises promoted by SC/ST professionals should be introduced. This had been done earlier by the UPA Government at the Centre and by the previous Congress-led state government in Karnataka."

She also said that rapid recruitment drives should be mounted for filling up backlog vacancies in a time-bound manner for posts already reserved for SC/ST in different departments.

"Education, technical training and skill development for SC/ST youth is crucial. This should receive the highest priority and scholarship schemes, hostel facilities, particularly residential schools must be expanded," Gandhi added.

Recently, various Congress leaders of Maharashtra have also come out in open to complain about getting ignored in the state government. This issue of SC/ST reservation is also significant as the gram panchayat elections in the state are just around the corner.