Jarange Accuses Fadnavis of Trying to Kill Him, Shinde Calls it Script of Sharad Pawar, Uddhav

“As Manoj Jarange is not backing down (from the demand to include Marathas in the OBC category), efforts are being made to eliminate him. The government is going all out to defame us. It wants me to die through hunger strike. It is conspiring to eliminate me by poisoning me through saline. That is why I have stopped taking IV fluids. Fadnavis wants to eliminate me in an encounter,” Jarange-Patil said on Sunday in Antarwali-Saraati village of Jalna, where he has been fasting for the last 10 days.

Accusing Fadnavis of hatching conspiracy against him, Jarange Patil threatened to march to the deputy chief minister’s residence at Mumbai. “Some people are being lured and pressured to make false allegations against me. Fadnavis is behind these conspiracies. I would march to Mumbai and protest outside the Sagar bungalow (Fadnavis’ official residence in Mumbai,” he added.

Jarange-Patil also alleged that Fadnavis wants to end Maratha influence in the state. “Devendra Fadnavis wants to end the influence of the Maratha community in the state and create hurdles in implementation of Sage-Soyare notification. Chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Ajit Pawar are helpless before Fadnavis. Nothing can happen in the state without the wish of Fadnavis, who is using divide and rule politics in the Maratha community”, he said.

The activist said he never demanded a separate 10 per cent reservation. ”I have been insisting that the Maratha community should get reservation under the OBC category. But the government has forcibly granted 10 per cent reservation to Marathas,” he said.

Jarange Patil has been demanding that all Marathas be considered as Kunbi – a caste in Maharashtra under the OBC category – and be given reservations accordingly. He wants one’s blood relations to be allowed to have Kunbi registration.

Mr. Fadnavis has refused to respond to Jarange-Patil’s allegations, saying “I did not hear what he spoke.”

The deputy chief minister further said the state government has a fair idea about the people behind Jarange, adding that details would come out at an appropriate time. When asked about Jarange’s announcement that he would march to Mumbai to protest in front of Mr. Fadnavis’s bungalow, the deputy CM said it was his official residence and anyone with any kind of work can visit it.

Chief minister Eknath Shinde said that Jarange must not test the patience of his government. Mr Shinde also took a swipe at the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar chief Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena (UBT) while responding to Jarange. “Those who are protesting again and again against the government must not test our patience. They should not create a law and order problem. I wonder why Jarange's speech looks like the script generally used by Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray,” he said.