Mumbai, Jul 16 (IANS): Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Spokesperson Umesh Patil on Tuesday said all parties of Maharashtra must clarify their stance on the Maratha reservation issue for the welfare of the state.

“If the opposition does not clarify their stance, it means they are misleading and deceiving the Maratha and OBC communities in Maharashtra with their duplicitous behaviour,” Patil said at a press conference.

“Do they have any legal means to provide blanket reservation to the Maratha community from the OBC quota? If they had such an opportunity, would they have given reservation to the Maratha community from the OBC quota? Patil asked Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, and Nana Patole.

He said that those parties concerned must come forward and explain their stand regarding the demand for blanket reservations to the Maratha community from the OBC quota.

“If they want to provide reservation in such a manner, they should also explain the legal means available to them,” Patil urged.

He said that to maintain the social balance in the state, the government had organised a meeting but the opponents deliberately turned their backs on it.

“If they had attended the meeting, the stance of all political parties would have been clear,” added Patil.