Maratha quotas: Shinde govt seeks more time, Jarange-Patil says 'no'

Jalna: A ministerial delegation arrived in Maharashtra's Jalna on Thursday evening to meet Shivba Sanghatana chief Manoj Jarange-Patil and seek more time to implement the proposed Maratha reservation, but he remained adamant on his December 24 deadline.

The delegation rushed to Antarvali-Sarathi village a day after Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made a detailed statement in the Maharashtra Legislature Session in Nagpur that the government would implement the Maratha quota at a special session to be convened in February next year.

The delegation, comprising Ministers Girish Mahajan, Uday Samant and others, pleaded for "some more time" and urged Jarange-Patil to suspend all his planned public rallies and agitation programmes till February 2024.

Jarange-Patil also demanded that in the case of those whose Kunbi Caste certificates have been found, the government should provide the same certificate to their blood relatives on maternal side, to which the delegation said was "not possible as per the laws".

Mahajan reiterated the CM’s and the government’s stance that the Maratha quotas would be given without affecting the existing OBC reservations, but the Maratha leader stuck to his demand for issuing Kunbi Caste certificates to the blood relations on the maternal side.

Continuing in an aggressive vein, a group of Maratha activists waved black flags at state Bharatiya Janata Party President Chandrashekhar Bawankule in Nanded on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Jarange-Patil is likely to continue with his planned public rallies in certain districts over the next few days, starting with Beed on Saturday. Later, he would announce his next agitation programme on December 25, to keep up the pressure on the government, said an aide in Mumbai.

Jarange-Patil has earlier warned that if the Maratha quotas are not implemented by December 24, then lakhs of Marathas from all over the state would march and lay siege to Mumbai.