Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that everyone agreed on providing Maratha Reservation in the all-party meeting held in Mumbai on November 1.
During an interaction with the reporters after the all-party meeting, CM Shinde said, “In the all-party meeting, everyone agreed that the Maratha community should get reservation. It was decided the reservation should be within the framework of the law and without doing injustice to other communities.”
The Chief Minister also requested people to maintain peace and cooperate with the government in its efforts.
“I request Manoj Jarange Patil to have faith in the efforts of the government. This protest has started taking a new direction. The incidents of violence that have taken place and are taking place in the State are unjustified and are bringing disrepute to the movement, we strongly reject these incidents. Common people should not feel insecure. I request all to not take law into their own hands and maintain peace and cooperate with the state government,” CM Shinde said.
State Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo, Sharad Pawar, former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Ministers Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Chandrakantdada Patil, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Valse Patil, Girish Mahajan, Dadaji Bhuse are among those who attended the meeting at Sahyadri Guest House.
Apart from them, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council Ambadas Danve, Leader of Opposition in Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar and several leaders from their respective parties attended the all-party meeting.
Earlier on October 31, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut alleged that his party MPs and MLAs were not sent an invitation to the all-party meeting. The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said that while a party with zero lawmakers were invited to the meeting, his party which has 16 MLAs and 6 MPs was not invited.
The quota activist Manoj Jarange has been sitting on an indefinite fast for over a week. On October 31, the Maratha reservation activist had decided to start drinking water after CM Eknath Shinde assured him of a solution.
Jarange-Patil however continues his agitation refusing to eat solid food. Patil says he will continue to drink water for two more days but will resume his complete hunger strike if the state government fails to place Marathas under the OBC category by giving them Kunbi caste certificates.
The activist also demanded that the government convene a special session to discuss the Maratha reservation demand.
(with inputs from ANI)
