Three Maharashtra corporations to be made minority empowerment models

Mumbai, Feb 18 (IANS) In a significant step towards minorities' welfare, the Centre has plans to develop three city municipal corporations from Maharashtra as models of minority empowerment, official sources said here Wednesday.

The Maharashtra government will identify the three cities for the purpose, based on their population and demographic data and inform the Centre.

The development follows a meeting held here between Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi during which detailed discussions were held in this regard, sources said.

The meeting was a follow-up to the recent interactions with state minister for minority affairs Eknath Khadse and other officials concerning welfare of the minorities.

Naqvi emphasised that the priority for the Centre is "growth and development" with the mood of the nation in a positive direction, but certain fundamentalist and Taliban mindsets were the enemies of development.

Reiterating that the Centre was committed to the all-round development of all the people and not any particular section, Naqvi said the enemies of development could be vanquished if tackled unitedly.

Referring to the oncoming budget session of Parliament starting Feb 23, Naqvi said it "promises to be very important from the point of view of the nation's progress", besides key bills to boost the reforms process.

Since it is imperative to get these important bills passed, the government will reach out to the opposition parties to get their cooperation through co-ordination and consultation process.

In this context, an all-party meeting would be held in New Delhi Feb 22 and the Centre is hopeful of securing the cooperation of the opposition parties and their constructive role in making the parliament session fruitful.

Naqvi is understood to have said that the Bharatiya Janata Party was "not connected" with the ongoing political developments in Bihar, but claimed that the so-called Janata Parivar does not enjoy the support of the people of that state.

The BJP continues to closely monitor the developments and is gearing up to secure the peoples' mandate whenever assembly elections are announced to provide a stable government in Bihar.