Jarange-Patil to Marathas: 'Squat in police stations if our boys get arrested'

Parbhani (Maharashtra): Shivba Sanghatana leader Manoj Jarange-Patil on Friday said that he would not give any more deadlines and said that the state government should implement the Maratha quotas by December 24.

"The time to extend deadlines is over. The government has two days left (till December 24). The Maratha reservation must be announced, failing which we shall go ahead with our next agitation programme," Jarange-Patil said during a public meeting.

On scores of his supporters and activists getting notice, the Maratha leader called upon the gathering "to go and squat inside police stations if our boys are arrested".

"Nothing is going to come out of such notices. But, if any of our boys are arrested by the police, then you should all go and sit inside the police stations till they are set free," Jarange-Patil exhorted as the crowd roared its approval.

He reiterated the known-stance to issue the Kunbi Caste certificates to those Marathas in Maharashtra whose old documents show them as Kunbis, and also wants the quota to be given on the maternal side of those eligible.

At his rally, a large number of Muslims participated and distributed snacks to the thousands of Marathas who turned out for the rally.

On Saturday, Jarange-Patil will address a massive Maratha rally in Beed, which his aides describe as the 'final warning' meeting before the December 24 deadline expires. Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar has alleged that no Maratha quotas shall be given and said the government is trying to buy time till February on the issue.

Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Nitesh Rane has said that almost all demands have been conceded and called upon Jarange-Patil to call off his agitation, going on since August.