NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday appealed to the Maratha youths, saying that suicide was not a solution to the issue of reservation, and assured that the state government was taking steps to get vacated the Supreme Court's interim order staying implementation of quota granted to the community. He was talking to reporters at Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI) in Pune.

"I would like to appeal to the young generation that suicide is not the way. The stand of the state government is 100 per cent in favour of reservation and it is taking all the efforts to get vacated the Supreme Court's order that stayed implementation of Maratha quota," Pawar said. He said he has been holding talks with noted lawyer Kapil Sibal over the issue.

"We are trying to present the state government's stand over the Maratha quota in the apex court to help remove anxiety from people's mind," he added. When asked about his grandnephew Parth Pawar's stand on the issue, he said anybody can approach the court.

"Even if 10 people go to court, it will help the state government's case. Ultimately our aim is to get the stay lifted," he said. Terming the suicide of a Maratha youth from Maharashtra's Beed as "tragic", Parth Pawar had said on Twitter that he would file an intervention application before the Supreme Court over the Maratha quota issue.

The NCP chief further said, "Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar told me that he and CM Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting on the issue." "The state government has already approached the court against the stay and it is insisting on appointment of a separate bench," said Pawar. The Supreme Court had last month stayed the implementation of 2018 Maharashtra law granting reservation to Marathas in education and jobs and referred the case to a larger bench. The Maharashtra government had on September 21 said it had filed an application before the apex court, seeking vacation of the stay.

Meanwhile, before attending a meeting at the VSI, Pawar visited the Serum Institute of India (SII). The 79-year-old leader said that he got a BCG (bacille Calmette-Gurin) vaccine administered at the SII on Friday morning to increase immunity.

Pawar also said that the vaccine against COVID-19, manufactured by the SII, will arrive by January next year.