Maratha quota stir called off

Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil called off his hunger strike on Thursday after chief minister Eknath Shinde and senior state ministers met him and underlined their commitment to accord reservations for the Maratha community, ending a political crisis that had engulfed the state for 17 days

- Surendra P Gangan

Shinde decided to visit JarangePatil's protest site of Antarwali Sarati village on Thursday morning along with senior ministers Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Girish Mahajan, Uday Samant, and Union minister of state for railways Raosaheb Danve. He said that he was committed to accord the reservation to the Maratha community and visited Jarange Patil because the activist's intention was honest and sincere.

"I have assured him that everything will be done as per the promise and the state government is committed for it. Most of his demands have been fulfilled. The remaining ones will take some time as they need to be legally foolproof," the CM said. After this, Jarange-Patil sipped orange juice handed to him by the chief minister to end the hunger strike that began on August 29 to press for quotas for the community.