Maratha reservation activist jarange patil takes fight to obc leader bhujbal’s bastion

Maratha reservation activist jarange patil takes fight to obc leader bhujbal’s bastion

Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Wednesday asserted that his community would never permit caste riots across Maharashtra while remarking that even other backward class (OBC) members in the State’s rural hinterlands had begun chastising OBC leaders who spoke against Maratha reservation.

Addressing a packed rally in Igatpuri in Nashik district, the stronghold of his bete noire— Maharashtra Minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal, Mr. Jarange-Patil launched a frontal attack on the former, recalling Mr. Bhujbal’s alleged involvement in the Maharashtra Sadan scam.

“Public money was looted and therefore you [Mr. Bhujbal] had to go behind bars… I know where you [Mr. Bhujbal] used to sell vegetables, whose bungalows you have grabbed, what all you did in Mumbai,” the activist said.

Mr. Bhujbal, along with his relatives, was named as an accused by the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau in 2016 in connection with the Maharashtra Sadan case in which the erstwhile Congress-NCP government had given out a contract to build a new Maharashtra Sadan building in New Delhi, allegedly without inviting tenders.

Alluding to the recent OBC rally spearheaded by Mr. Bhujbal which was held in Jalna district (Mr. Jarange Patil’s stronghold), the activist said that while initially he merely opposed the OBC leaders for his views, he now opposed him on a personal level as well.

‘Oppose him as person’

“Earlier, we used to oppose him for his views. While such differences are part of Maharashtra’s political tradition, now I oppose him as a person as well. Why is he continuously uttering statements that can harm relations between Marathas and OBCs,” Mr. Jarange Patil said.