Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange
Credit: PTI File Photo
Mumbai: Amid his fresh agitation and hunger strike, Maratha reservation campaigner Manoj Jarange-Patil on Sunday said that he was neither against Maha Yuti (NDA) nor Maha Vikas Aghadi (I.N.D.I.A.) but stands for the rights of the community.
Jarange-Patil’s comments come nearly a week ahead of the crucial July 28 meeting during which his team is expected to take a call on whether they would contest the ensuing Vidhan Sabha polls in Maharashtra, expected around October.
“What I am interested in is reservation to the Maratha community. We what reservation under the OBC quota as Kunbis, that's what I am interested in. I am neither against (ruling) Maha Yuti (comprising BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP) nor Maha Vikas Aghadi (which includes Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP) and Congress). Our goal is to get reservation,” Jarange-Patil told reporters in Antarwali Sarathi village in Ambad tehsil of Jalna, where he is holding the agitation.
This is the sixth hunger strike that Jarange-Patil is undertaking in a year’s time, and over months he had scaled up the demands.
He is demanding implementation of the draft ‘sage-soyare’ notification that recognises Kunbis as blood relatives of the Maratha community members and give reservation under OBC category.