BJP leader challenges Jarange to field 288 Maratha candidates in polls

After activist Manoj Jarange asked the Marathas to prepare for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, BJP leader and former Union Minister Raosaheb Danve challenged him to field 288 Maratha candidates in the polls if he was not satisfied with the reservation granted to his community.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday evening, he said the state government has already provided 10 per cent reservation to the Maratha community. "As per the law, we have given the reservation. But if Jarange is not satisfied, he should field his own candidates in all 288 assembly constituencies in the state," Danve said. Speaking at his native Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district on Tuesday, Jarange asked the Maratha community to get ready to contest the upcoming assembly polls, saying it has no option but to get political power if it wants reservation in government jobs and education.

Expressing confidence that Marathas would come to power in the state after the elections due in October, he said the Marathas, Muslims and Dalits would bring about a significant change. The activist has been demanding reservation for the Maratha community under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, though the state government enacted a law in February to provide them a 10 per cent quota under a separate category. However, OBC leaders, including cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal, have opposed any dilution of the existing quota for backward communities. Danve further said, "We are also of the opinion that the Maratha community should get reservation. But it should not be given at the expense of the quota of others." He lashed out at the leaders of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), accusing them of politicising the Maratha reservation issue for electoral gains. Danve said the Congress MPs should raise in Parliament the issue of providing reservation to Marathas in the OBC category. "If they raise the issue, it means they are sincere, otherwise they are selfish and not sincere," he said. Danve also slammed the MVA, accusing it of misleading the people by claiming victory in the Lok Sabha elections.

"It is the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that has won the election and come to power at the Centre," he said.