A group of onion traders gathered at the Pimpalgaon Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), near Nashik, to inspect one of the season's final harvests of red onions as they look to place their bids. They were surrounded by farmers, who brought their produce here from different parts of the district. Farmers have reasons to be optimistic.
Maratha activist Manoj Jarange on Tuesday launched a fresh indefinite fast, his sixth in a span of over a year, to press for the demand for reservation to his community under the OBC category.
Wadettiwar said he was not opposed to the idea of increasing the overall quota ceiling to accommodate the Maratha community.
Later in the afternoon, he also said that he was planning to hold a rally of the Maratha community at the protest site on October 12. "It will be attended by all the Marathas. It will show our plight and disappointment.... I will continue my protest here and will not even see the faces of my children till then," he said.
Maratha activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday suspended his indefinite fast, which he began five days ago over the quota issue, stating that his community members say they want him alive to fight for the cause.
The poll aspirants who feel threatened are seeking to garner sympathy from their voters by meeting influential leaders like Jarange in the Marathwada region
Activist Manoj Jarange, who is observing an indefinite fast for the Maratha quota demand, on Saturday said a series of hunger strikes will begin in every village in Maharashtra from October 29 if the government fails to grant the reservation immediately.
Jarange, aged around 40, has been holding the hunger protest in Jalna district's Antarwali Sarati village since August 29.
Jarange is a strident critic of the senior BJP leader and has routinely accused him of being the main obstacle in the Maratha community's quest for reservations.
Jarange, whose hunger strike at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district for reservation for the community in government jobs and education entered 12th day, also rejected the fresh outcome of talks held with a delegation of Maratha community leaders and the government late on Friday night in Mumbai.
Among the BJP rebels, a notable figure is Gopal Shetty, a two-time MLA and former Lok Sabha member from Mumbai. He has filed his nomination as an independent candidate against the party's official nominee, Sanjay Upadhyay, in Mumbai's Borivali assembly constituency.
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Saturday launched a fresh indefinite hunger strike in Maharashtra's Jalna district, demanding implementation of the draft notification that recognises Kunbis as blood relatives of the Maratha community members.
Fasting Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange has stopped taking intravenous (IV) fluids and liquid, intensifying his agitation as he on Monday appealed to all political parties in Maharashtra to stand with the community on the reservation issue.
The announcement, made at the end of a speech of more than one hour in Antarwali Sarati in Jalna in which Jarange made several allegations against Fadnavis, took his supporters by surprise.
The Haryana victory will be a morale booster for the Bharatiya Janata Party and increase its bargaining power in the Mahayuti's seat-sharing talks for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, according to political analysts.
'Since September 1, a senior cabinet minister has been to-ing and fro-ing between Jalna and Mumbai by chartered flight every single day with messages from the two deputy chief ministers and the chief minister to get Manoj Jarange-Patil to back down from his agitation.'
Activist Manoj Jarange, whose indefinite fast over Maratha reservation entered the fifth day on Wednesday, started taking intravenous fluids after a Maharashtra minister assured to resolve the issue.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday announced the withdrawal of police cases filed against pro-Maratha reservation protesters in Jalna district, the epicentre of the latest round of stir on the issue, and urged quota activist Manoj Jarange to end his indefinite fast.
The Maratha quota matter snowballed into a major challenge for the state government after the police earlier this month baton-charged a violent mob at Antarwali Sarati when protesters allegedly refused to let authorities shift Jarange to hospital.
A protest for Maratha reservation in Jalna district of central Maharashtra turned violent on Friday, leading to dozens of persons including police personnel getting injured, officials said.
He also criticised the government over an advertisement published in some prominent newspapers listing the steps taken for the welfare of the Maratha community.
A special quiz to mark the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi.
He had resigned from his post as a deputy leader of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Khotkar told reporters in Jalna.
He also sought framing of a law to identify Kunbis as Marathas, and warned of fielding candidates from all 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra in the upcoming state polls if his demands were not approved.
The protesters, led by Manoj Jarange, had been staging a hunger strike demanding reservation for the Maratha community at the village since Tuesday.
The assembly also witnessed a brief adjournment after the ruling alliance members pointed to remarks of Jarange and alleged there was a conspiracy to create unrest in the state.
The Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday decided that Kunbi caste certificates will be issued to those Marathas hailing from the Marathwada region who possess revenue or education documents from the Nizam era that recognise them as Kunbis, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said.
Activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday reiterated that he will stop drinking water from Wednesday evening if his demand for reservation to the Maratha community is not fulfilled by the Maharashtra government.
Speaking to reporters at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district, the activist said he would wait and see if the state government converts its draft notification on 'blood relatives' of Kunbi Marathas into law and then decide on the course of his agitation.
A delegation of the Maharashtra government, comprising ministers, on Tuesday failed to convince Manoj Jarange, whose hunger strike for Maratha quota entered the 8th day, to withdraw his protest.
The health condition of Maratha quota agitation spearhead Manoj Jarange, whose indefinite fast continued on the fifth day on Wednesday, deteriorated and he was given intravenous (IV) fluids when he was asleep during the protest, an activist close to him said.
Maratha quota protester Manoj Jarange, who has been on a hunger strike in Maharashtra's Jalna district, said on Thursday that their agitation will continue till the state relaxes the condition of genealogy while giving Kunbi caste certificate to the community members from the Marathwada region.
Activist Manoj Jarange on Monday announced he was withdrawing his 17-day-old fast undertaken over the Maratha quota issue, but insisted he would continue his agitation until the Maharashtra government starts issuing Kunbi caste certificates to extended family members of people already having such documents, thereby allowing them to avail of reservation benefits.
The Maharashtra police has so far registered 141 cases in connection with the violence during the Maratha quota agitations and arrested 168 persons, state Director General of Police Rajnish Seth said on Wednesday.
Addressing the media, Jarange, on an indefinite hunger strike since August 29 at Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district in central Maharashtra demanding reservation in jobs and education for the Maratha community, asserted he would not succumb to pressure from either the government or the opposition on the quota issue.
The quota and other issues of the Maratha community were discussed in the state cabinet meeting after which it was decided to hold a special session, the CMO statement said.
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange on Thursday ended his nine-day-old indefinite fast, but warned of a bigger agitation if no action was taken in two months on giving reservation benefits to the community.
The activist claimed that state minister Uday Samant phoned him in the morning to assure that the chief minister and the deputy CMs were committed to granting reservation.
A group of Maratha reservation activists torched the first floor of the Majalgaon Municipal Council building and vandalised it in Maharashtra's Beed district, soon after setting on fire the residence of local NCP MLA Prakash Solanke on Monday, the police said.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the country needs a strong government but not of 'one party with brute majority', and batted for a coalition rule.
