Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil retreated further Monday by calling on those nominated by him for the Maharashtra assembly polls to withdraw their candidatures. Patil narrated why he did not rely on a single caste base since it would be hard to come to power. “We discussed this till 3:30 a.m. ‘We would have proposed to set Dalit and Muslim also in the election as alliance partners because it is not good to get into election only with one caste,’ he told reporters at Jalna’s Antarwali Sarathi.
Patil explained that, due to being a new political entity, lack of success would mean detrimental impacts on Marathe image. There’s no doubt that they would be extremely embarrassed if their candidate loses an election, for the whole caste. And that is why I am appealing to all Maratha candidates to withdraw their nominations, he said.
younger among them last week addressed a joint press conference with Muslim leader Sajjad Nomani and announced that for the Maharashtra polls a ‘common minimum programme’, that unites Dalit and Muslim leaders, is to be launched. He urged the Marathas to vote for the dalit and muslim candidates and said that the only way to challenge the status quo was to work together.
Speaking to the media, Nomani said the BJP has been engineering the divide and conquer strategy, which he said was disruptive when it came to voting saying people have to unite in order not to split the votes. “Our unity is not just important for Maharashtra, but for the entire country – this he said.
Two Dalit leaders, Rajratna Ambedkar, and Anandraj Ambedkar were also equally in support of the concept of forming a coalition to overthrow traditional political cum social entities. Maharashtra’s 288 assembly seat voting is slated for November 20, and elections results will be declared on November 23.
