Jarange-Patil says he won’t field Maratha candidates for LS polls

Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil announces not to field candidates for Lok Sabha election, urges community to vote based on their conscience.

Mumbai: In a significant development, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil announced not to field any candidates for the Lok Sabha election. He also said he would not support any political party. Contrary to the earlier stand of fielding hundreds of community candidates in each of the constituencies, Jarange-Patil appealed to the community members to vote according to their conscience and stand by the candidates supporting the cause of the Maratha reservation.

Jarange-Patil says he won’t field Maratha candidates for LS polls

His decision would prevent a split in Maratha votes though it remains to be seen which party or side will benefit by the move.

Amid the speculation that the Maratha community will field multiple candidates in each of the Lok Sabha constituencies, Jarange-Patil held a press conference in Antarwali Sarati in Jalna on Saturday to clarify the stand. He said that the decision of not fielding any independent candidates was taken on the basis of the suggestions they received from various villages.

“According to the reports we received from villages, we have come to the conclusion that there was no need to field independent candidates. There is no need for the Maratha community to jump into the fray. It is left to the community members to decide whom to defeat and whom to vote. We have no business to speak about politics and the elections, but the decision has been taken since there were recommendations from the villages,” he said.

On Wednesday, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar announced that Jarange-Patil will join the VBA and field Maratha candidates. Jarange-Patil, hours after it, had announced to clarify his stand in a few days. His Saturday announcement means he won’t support the VBA either.

Jarange-Patil also warned the community members to not indulge in the collection of money in the name of the election fund. “If anybody has done so, kindly to the donor or else, the people involved in it will be exposed before the media,” he said. The activist also announced a rally at Narayan gad in Beed after the Lok Sabha elections to take a call on the further course of action on the Maratha reservation protest.

Jarange-Patil and other community leaders had earlier announced to field hundreds of candidates by choosing at least 10 candidates per village. The villagers from the community had volunteered to donate money for the election fund for community candidates. Community leaders however were divided over the move as it would split the community votes, benefiting the non-Maratha candidates. A few community leaders had openly spoken against the idea and Jarange-Patil. In the wake of it, the activist cleared his stand.