CM defers plan to visit Jarange-Patil

Shinde and a few other state ministers are expected to meet Jarange-Patil on September 16, when they are scheduled to visit Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar [formerly Aurangabad], barely 70 km from Jalna, for a cabinet meeting, an official from CMO said, requesting anonymity

Mumbai: Chief minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday did not go ahead with his planned visit to Jalna district to meet Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil, who a day ago had announced to call off his indefinite hunger strike if Shinde and a few other leaders met him in person.

On Tuesday afternoon, Jarange-Patil said he would call off his strike only if Shinde, deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar as well as two descendants of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Udayanraje Bhosale and Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati met him in person. (HT PHOTO)

The chief minister, however, said his government was making efforts to fulfil the Maratha reservation demand.

Shinde and a few other state ministers are expected to meet Jarange-Patil on September 16, when they are scheduled to visit Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar [formerly Aurangabad], barely 70 km from Jalna, for a cabinet meeting, an official from CMO said, requesting anonymity.

Jarange, a farmer, has been on an indefinite hunger strike at Antarwali-Sarathi village in Jalna since August 29, demanding that Marathas from Marathwada region be extended reservation under the Other Backward Classes category by declaring them as Kunbis — a sub-caste recognised as OBC.

On Tuesday afternoon, Jarange-Patil said he would call off his strike only if Shinde, deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar as well as two descendants of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Udayanraje Bhosale and Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati met him in person.

In response to the demand, Shinde and Ajit Pawar had decided to meet Jarange-Patil on Wednesday evening, but it was cancelled at the last minute. According to officials, Pawar will not visit Jalna and instead some other ministers would be meeting the activist.

“A government delegation has been talking to Jarange-Patil on his demands. The call on the visit to Jalna would be taken after the delegation submits its report to us. I have been constantly talking to Jarange-Patil,” Shinde said in a statement on Wednesday.

The proposed visit was cancelled as the government does not want to bow before any pressure tactic, especially after accepting all possible demands related to the Maratha reservation, a leader from Shinde-led Shiv Sena said, requesting anonymity. “The demand put up by the activist is uncalled for especially when the government has responded to the protest positively,” the leader added.

An official, requesting anonymity, however, said that a widely circulated video on social media has caused embarrassment for the chief minister. In the video, purportedly shot before the start of a press conference after an all-party meeting on Monday, Shinde is heard telling his deputies Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar: “Let’s get it off our heads and go.”

The video evoked sharp criticism from some Opposition leaders, who alleged that the chief minister was not serious about the reservation issue.

On Wednesday, Shinde said the video was presented in a distorted way. “It is not right to malign the state’s image by distorting situations and conversations on social media,” he said. “I was asking Fadnavis and Pawar to talk only about the fast [hunger strike] and not any other political issues.”

He alleged that attempts were being made to create rift between the government and the Maratha community.

After the all-party meet on Monday, Shinde had announced the suspension of three senior police officers involved in lathi-charge on agitators in Jalna on September 1, and withdrawal of cases registered against the protesters early this month — accepting demands of Jarange. Shinde also set a deadline of one month to the panel set up to decide how to give Kunbi caste certificates to Marathas in Marathawada region.