Marathas should unite, our goal is to get quota in OBC category: Jarange

Nashik (Maharashtra), Aug 13 (PTI) Activist Manoj Jarange on Tuesday said the goal of his agitation was to get reservation for the Maratha community in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, and the Marathas should unite for this purpose.

The coming Maharashtra assembly elections were a "unique opportunity", he said at the conclusion of the Maratha Janjagruti peace rally here.

"Our aim is to get reservation in the OBC category. Only reservation will help us grow big. Our children miss the opportunity of becoming (government) officers by just one per cent marks. We do not even get promotions," he said.

"Even two months after my meeting with minister Shambhuraj Desai, nothing has happened. It means the government does not want to give us reservation....Reservation in EWS (economically weaker section) category was given but it did not survive (judicial scrutiny)," said the activist.

The community should not give any importance to political parties or leaders but think of their children's future, Jarange added.

"Your next generations will ask why you did not fight for reservation," he said.

The decision on whether they would contest the assembly polls will be taken at a meeting at his Antarwali Sarati village on August 29, Jarange reiterated.

He also warned deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis not to take on him, stating that the BJP leader (who also holds the home portfolio) made a mistake by setting up a Special Investigation Team against him.

Lashing out at state minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal who has strongly opposed reservation to the Maratha community from the OBC category, Jarange called him a "blot" on Yeola (Bhujbal's assembly constituency in Nashik district). PTI COR KRK