PM Modi should meet Manoj Jarange and resolve Maratha quota issue: Uddhav Thackeray

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray urged on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have a meeting with Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange to address and resolve the matter of reservation for the Maratha community.

Thackeray was speaking to reporters here, a day after Jarange launched an indefinite fast in Jalna district over the Maratha quota demand. During his address at his party's Dussehra rally in Mumbai on Tuesday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde pledged to grant reservation to the Maratha community by making a symbolic gesture of bowing before the bust of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on the stage.

Taking a dig at CM Shinde, Thackeray said making a vow and then resorting to delaying tactics was not a way out. The government should tell the Maratha quota protesters what is the way out. Why isn’t the government not resolving the issue if there is a way out? Thackeray asked. I welcome the prime minister, but he should meet Jarange and resolve the issue of granting reservation to the Maratha community, the former Maharashtra CM said.

The Maratha quota activist Jarange, who has come to represent the community, began his hunger strike on Wednesday at his home town of Antarwali Sarati in the Jalna district. On October 24, the Maharashtra government was supposed to provide the community with reservation, and Jarange had given them 40 days to prepare.