Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Saturday said people domiciled in the state should be given local employment opportunity first.
"Locals must be given importance. Whoever is a domicile of Maharashtra must first get an employment opportunity irrespective of the language the people of Maharashtra speak or the belief they follow," Chavan said, while urging Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee to keep this in mind in railway recruitment.
However, he said his government did not support agitations based on language and region. "It is not our policy."
His remarks come against the backdrop of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena launching a 'Marathi manoos' campaign and assault on candidates from North India appearing in railway exams in Maharashtra.
Banerjee, for her part, said railway recruitment exams would be conducted in regional languages simultaneously with English and Hindi. In Maharashtra, the exams will be held in Marathi and in other states, these will be held in local languages," she said.