Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
Maratha activist Manoj Jarange has alleged that Chhagan Bhujbal and Vijay Wadettiwar conspired at a Nashik farmhouse to politically damage Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis.
Speaking from a private hospital on Monday, Jarange claimed Bhujbal told Wadettiwar during the meeting, “Ajit Pawar trapped me. Take over the OBC agitation under Congress’s leadership and damage Pawar’s image. That will weaken Fadnavis’s power. I have also provoked Munde.” According to Jarange, this secret meeting triggered Wadettiwar’s sudden rise as an OBC leader and led to the recent Nagpur march. He dismissed the ongoing anti-Maratha protests, saying they won’t affect the government’s decision on the Hyderabad Gazette GR, which was issued after due study. “It will not be cancelled,” he asserted, adding that a new GR based on the Aundh Gazetteer will be released soon. Jarange maintained that all Maratha gains have come through legal and peaceful struggle, and he called the upcoming Congress rally “ineffective”. Reaffirming his inclusive stance, Jarange said, “If the Banjara community’s records are valid, they too deserve reservation.” He accused OBC leaders of finishing off 374 smaller OBC castes and misusing the quota meant for micro-OBCs, urging poor OBCs to recognize this injustice. He also blamed Sharad Pawar for “betraying the Maratha community by handing over the 16% quota to others” and alleged that Bhujbal has a history of backstabbing: “He jailed Balasaheb Thackeray and later deceived Sharad Pawar, who had implemented the Mandal Commission.”
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“I’m not a leader, I’m an agitator”
Reacting to Bhujbal’s remark that several Maratha leaders exist besides him, Jarange clarified: “I don’t call myself a leader I’m an agitator fighting for justice.”