Marathas may contest Maharashtra polls if quota demand not met, says activist Manoj Jarange-Patil
Jarange-Patil also urged the community to ‘unite’ and ‘vote with conviction’ in the Lok Sabha elections.
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Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Sunday said that the community members might contest the Assembly elections in Maharashtra later this year if they are not granted reservations in government jobs and education by June 6, PTI reported.
“We are not involved in politics,” Jarange-Patil told reporters in Navi Mumbai. “We have not aligned with any party, neither the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi nor the ruling Mahayuti. We have not fielded any candidate and neither supported anyone.”
The Mahayuti comprises Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction of the Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party. The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi comprises the Uddhav Thackeray-led group of the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party.
Jarange-Patil said that while he is not contesting the Lok Sabha elections, the Maratha community “knows who will win and lose”.
The quota activist criticised the state government, accusing it of betraying the Maratha community by postponing crucial decisions on the matter of granting it reservations for seven months, according to PTI.
“They [political parties] have cheated the Maratha community for 40 years,” he said. “We are prepared to contest the Assembly elections wholeheartedly”.
He added: “If they do not give [reservations] till June 6, we will prepare for...
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