A day after a delegation of leaders and representatives of Maratha community from Marathwada met Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, activist Manoj Jarange Patil said on Saturday that he will not withdraw his hunger strike until his community gets Kunbi certificate under the OBC category.
Since August 29, Mr. Jarange Patil is on hunger strike demanding reservation for the Maratha community in Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna district. On Saturday, he told mediapersons, “The delegation which had met the Chief Minister in Mumbai yesterday for two-and-a-half hours will meet me today. After the meeting, I will decide whether to withdraw the fast or not.”
A leader from Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, Arjun Khotkar, who was part of the delegation, said, “The discussions were positive. We will brief Jarange Patil about the discussions that we had on the demands made by him. After this, he will take a decision on withdrawing the fast”.
In Mumbai, the Chief Minister had said, “The discussion with the delegation was positive. We are hopeful of finding a solution. We hope the activist will withdraw his fast”.
On September 7, the Maharashtra government had issued a Government Resolution (G.R.) to form a committee to set up a process for providing the Kunbi caste certificates to those from the Maratha community from the Marathwada region.
He had said, “A committee was set up and asked to submit a report within a month on how to issue Kunbi certificates to the Maratha community from Marathwada. The State government has taken this issue seriously and we are working to find an amicable solution. I have directed officials to study the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Maratha quota and recommend solutions. We need to establish that the Maratha community is backward,”
However, Mr. Patil had said, “Till the State relaxes the condition of genealogy while giving Kunbi caste certificate to the community members from the Marathwada region.”
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