All parties, except for the Shiv Sena, have reacted to the Maharashtra cabinet okaying 16 per cent quota for Marathas and five per cent quota for Muslims in education and government jobs. However, Uddhav Thackeray's party seems confused over deciding its stand.

When asked about their stand, Shiv Sena leaders pointed towards the party chief who is yet to decide whether to support the announcement or oppose it.

Sources in the Shiv Sena say the party cannot support reservation for Muslim but it will be a political suicide to oppose Maratha reservation.

That is the reason the party is unable to decide its stand. Even party's mouthpiece Samana is silent.

Calls made to Shiv Sena spokespersons for TV debates proved futile as they were apparently told by the party not to participate in any such debate.

The Shiv Sena in the past always opposed reservations.

Even during the Mandal Commission agitation in 1990, the Shiv Sena was the only party that openly opposed implementation of the commission's recommendation for OBC reservation.

The Shiv Sena had a large support base of Other Backward Classes in Maharashtra but despite that, then party supremo Bal Thackeray took it on himself to target the report.

Due to that stand, Chagan Bhujbal, then the Shiv Sena's top OBC leader, joined the Congress. Despite that, Bal Thackeray never changed his stand.

But this time, the situation is different.

The Marathas in the Lok Sabha elections voted for the Shiv Sena and the BJP because of which the two parties could manage to enter the Congress-NCP bastion of Marathwada and western Maharashtra.

The Shiv Sena-BJP combine managed to win seats they could have never imagined they could bag.

So Uddhav Thackeray doesn't want to disturb the voting pattern for the Assembly elections and is hoping to win some assembly seats in western Maharashtra with the support of the Marathas.

The demand for Maratha reservation was being made by former NCP leaders such as Vinayak Mete who was known to be close to NCP strongman Ajit Pawar for quite some time.

But when the Congress-NCP government did not fulfill his demand, he decided to quit the NCP and join the BJP just before the Lok Sabha elections.

So the Shiv Sena knows the political importance of Marathas who constitutes 32 per cent of the Hindu population in Maharashtra.

Even today, most ministers in the Maharashtra cabinet are Marathas.

The Shiv Sena though never supported the demand for Maratha reservation like the BJP in the past. Bal Thackeray openly used to say that the Shiv Sena doesn't support caste politics.

Earlier, when the demand for Muslim reservation was raised, the Shiv Sena openly opposed it but now when the government has declared reservation for Muslims along with reservation for Marathas, the Shiv Sena has found itself into Catch-22 situation.

The BJP though was quick to term the government's decision as a poll sop. But while speaking about Muslim reservation, the party tried to criticise it by calling it vote-bank politics. Now, everyone is waiting for the Shiv Sena's stand.