Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Monday accused Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of supporting his cabinet colleague and NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal’s demand for nullifying the Kunbi evidence in Maharashtra.
Addressing a rally in Nanded, Jarange indicated that candidates of the ruling Mahayuti will be defeated in all 288 seats in the upcoming assembly elections.
“I challenge Devendra Fadnavis. You are giving power to Chhagan Bhujbal. We don’t have a problem with it. But you are making OBCs stand against the Marathas. You should not listen to Chhagan Bhujbal and damage the BJP in the state,” said Jarange, who has been demanding the reservation for the Maratha community by recognising them as Kunbis under the OBC grouping.
“Give us the reservation of our share. But if you listen to Chhagan Bhujbal, your 288 candidates (in upcoming assembly polls) will be defeated. We know that we did not get anything since 1980. But then why are they (Fadnavis) repeating the same mistake? When he gave 13 per cent reservation to Marathas, the community gave 106 MLAs to BJP,” he said.
Jarange alleged the government has said on paper that 57 lakh evidences of ‘Kunbi’ are found.
“Even if we consider three people getting benefit from one piece of evidence, 1.5 crore Marathas went into quota and Bhujbal calls me mad even after this,” he claimed.
Jarange alleged that the agitation (of the OBC community) commenced when Marathas were staging protests for reservation, which means the state is supporting OBC agitators and wants violence.
“We want to win this fight (of agitation) by peace. Marathas and OBCs in villages should remain peaceful,” he added.
He accused the government of conspiring against him.
“They tried to attack me and also appointed an SIT (Special Investigation Team) to put me behind bars. But I am not afraid. Officers from the Maratha community are also being threatened now,” Jarange alleged.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)