Under attack from the Shiv Sena for commemorating Chhatrapati Shivaji's birth anniversary as per the Gregorian calendar, the BJP on Thursday hit back by courting the Marathas in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis spoke at government celebrations in Pune to mark Shivaji's 385th birth anniversary. He announced that all hurdles impeding the construction of the grand Shivaji Memorial had been cleared. The Sena leadership has demanded that the state now declare March 8 as a holiday, since as per the Marathi calendar, Shivaji's birth anniversary falls on March 8 in 2015.

Fadnavis reiterated that the BJP will ensure 16 per cent reservations for the Maratha community in government jobs. In 2014, the Bombay High Court had stayed the reservations observing that the Marathas were a dominant and prosperous group present across the state. The BJP government had then introduced a special Maratha reservation bill to the state legislature to skirt around the legal hurdle.