Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday said his government is committed to giving reservations to the Maratha community by proving its social and educational backwardness.

He was speaking to reporters at Pune's Bhimashankar Temple, one of the 12 'jyotirlingas' in the country.

"It is our clear stand to give reservations to the Maratha community. When Devendra Fadnavis was chief minister (between 2014 and 2019), we had given reservations to the Maratha community but it was set aside by the Supreme Court," he said.

"It is our priority to prove that the Maratha community is backward on social and educational grounds. We are giving first preference to it and dedicated committees are working on it. Time should be given to the government," the chief minister said.

Mr Shinde said he had assured Manoj Jharange Patil, who has been on hunger strike in Jalna district for the past several days, that the Maharashtra government was fully with the Maratha community.

"We do not want to cheat anyone by taking any (weak) decision. A decision which we take must stand the legal test. The government's stand is that reservations given to the Maratha community must be foolproof," he said.

Asserting that reservations must be given to the Maratha community without affecting such facilities of other groups, Mr Shinde asked opposition parties to cooperate with his government.

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