Maintaining a vice-like grip on the Eknath Shinde-led government, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil on Thursday announced a nine-day statewide tour from November 15 onwards while urging CM Shinde to expedite the process of giving other backward class (OBC) certificates to all Marathas in Maharashtra.
Speaking at Galaxy Hospital in Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad) where he is currently convalescing, Mr. Jarange Patil refuted allegations made by Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal (of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction) and other OBC leaders that fake OBC Kunbi caste certificates are being issued to the Marathas.
“Marathas are not being given fake OBC Kunbi certificates…No matter how hard we have tried to make him understand, Bhujbal has refused to do so. Proofs of Marathas having been Kunbi OBCs are being found, but he [Mr. Bhujbal] refuses to acknowledge it,” rued the activist, who has kept the Maharashtra government on edge with his two hunger strikes, first in September, and then in October-November.
