Mumbai, Sep 12 (IANS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will hold a statewide 'Congress Hatao, Aarakshan Bachao' agitation in Maharashtra on Friday to protest against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's anti-reservation remark.
Rahul Gandhi stirred the hornet's nest with his remark that he "will scrap the reservation when India is a fair place" during the US visit, drawing criticism from various political parties.
However, in a damage control exercise, Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday that he was misquoted and would increase reservation limits beyond 50 per cent when Congress comes to power.
BJP's state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule will lead the protest in Akola while its Mumbai president Ashish Shelar and party legislator Pankaja Munde in Mumbai.
State Public Works Minister Ravindra Chavan will lead the protest in Thane, Rural Development Minister Girish Mahajan in Jalgaon, Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil in Pune and Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar in Chandrapur.
Moreover, Housing Minister Atul Save will lead the agitation in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, party legislator Ram Shinde in Ahilyadevi Nagar, legislators Devayanai Pharande and Seema Hire in Nashik, party leader Vikrant Patil in Nagpur and tribal development minister and party functionary Vijay Chaudhari in Nandurbar.
Earlier, senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis slammed Gandhi, saying that his statement has "exposed" the Congress party’s "anti-reservation face".
"It is regrettable that on one hand, they set up a false narrative during the Lok Sabha elections and on the other they go abroad and speak about scrapping reservation," he alleged.
"Rahul Gandhi speaks about saving the Constitution in the country and during his visit abroad, he speaks about ending reservation. It turns out that all their talk is false. Congress never honoured the Constitution and stopped Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar from going to the Lok Sabha,’’ claimed Fadnavis.
However, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee had accused the BJP of spreading propaganda by misinterpreting Rahul Gandhi's statement regarding the reservation.
State Congress chief Nana Patole alleged that BJP and RSS are against reservation.
Patole said that the BJP has "distorted" Rahul Gandhi's statement on the reservation.