Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday warned of large-scale protests by members of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) if their existing reservation is reduced to accommodate Marathas, news agency PTI reported.

Opposing the demand to include Marathas in the OBC category, the senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader said only 17 per cent reservation is currently available for 374 communities in Maharashtra.

Quoting government data, Bhujbal claimed that nearly eight per cent of beneficiaries under the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota are from the Maratha community.