Politics not my cup of tea: Jarange Patil

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Rejecting an offer of Lok Sabha election, Manoj Jarange Patil, the leader of the Maratha reservation movement on Wednesday, said that politics is not his field.

It may be noted that Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi made a demand in the meeting of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) held in Mumbai recently to give a ticket to Jarange Patil for Jalna Lok Sabha Constituency. Rejecting the offer for the Lok Sabha, he said that politics is not his cup of tea. Jarange Patil said that he was firm on his demand for reservation.

Meanwhile, Republican Sena's Anandraj Ambedkar met Jarange this evening at the private hospital where he was undergoing treatment. Jarange said that he was telling the Maratha community of the State to not get confused as their demand is for reservation from OBC. He said that he would not stop the agitation until the demand is fulfilled.

Talking to journalists today, he accused the Home Minister of the State of creating communal hatred. “Since it is the examination period, I will suspend the agitation for the time being and stage a demonstration for the reservation. The force is being used to remove the pendal at Antarwali. Don't remove that pendal and stop oppressing the villagers. Otherwise, the consequences will be bad,” he asserted. Jarange urged the community members to send emails to the President of the country, the Governor and the Government website to stop the usage of force at Antarwali.

“I will not accept a 10 per cent reservation. Even if I am arrested and put in jail, I will not take it back. I will start a hunger strike even in jail. There will be no backtracking without reservation from OBCs. I spoke to the ruling party leaders. The Maratha leaders got angry over this. It should be clear whether our leaders want a caste or a leader. Don't make a loss to the Maratha community for your selfishness,” he added.

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Stop arrest of leaders in Antarwali

“Don't get angry. Keep quiet for eight days. See which leader does what. If I am arrested, protest but peacefully. If they are going to file a case against me, the Maratha community will lodge a complaint of cheating against them,” Jarange said. He demanded to stop the arrest of leaders of Antarwali. “The setting up of SIT has created an outrage in the community. I will tour the State as soon as my health improves,” he added.