Mounting pressure on its ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said the state government must convene a special session of the Assembly immediately to discuss the Maratha reservation issue.

Following a meeting with his legislators in Mumbai on Monday afternoon, Thackeray said: “Our demand is that we should not wait for the report of the Backward Class Commission. A special Assembly session should be convened immediately.”

Thackeray said that while discussing reservation for the Maratha community, reservation for other communities in the state should also be discussed. “A proposal should be discussed in the special Assembly session and sent to the Centre,” he said.

Sena MLAs and ministers are meeting Fadnavis at 4pm on Monday and will present these demands to him.

Thackeray said the reservation issue should not be politicised, and appealed to people in the state to not resort to violence, even as reports of violence came in from parts of Pune and Solapur, following a call for a shutdown by local units of Maratha Kranti Morcha.