Maharashtra Election 2024: Manoj Jarange Patil, leader of the Maratha reservation movement in Maharashtra, has distanced himself from the assembly elections. He has made it clear that he will not support any party or candidate during the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Along with this, he has also asked his supporters to withdraw from the election race. Patil said that the Maratha community itself will decide which party or candidate it will support.
After Patil staying away from the assembly elections, everyone’s eyes are on the fact that ultimately some political party is going to benefit from it. Political experts believe that in the absence of a strong third alliance in the state, the Mahavikas Aghadi alliance has taken a sigh of relief, while the electoral battle may become more difficult for the ruling Mahayuti.
Maratha community itself will decide to support
Maratha reservation movement leader Manoj Jarange Patil decided to stay away from the assembly elections during a meeting of his supporters in Maharashtra’s Jalna district. He said that as a society we cannot achieve electoral victory now. In such a situation, the Maratha society itself will decide which party or candidate it will support. Patil said that everyone has seen what happened to those who raised slogans of Rs 400 during the Lok Sabha elections. In such a situation, the people of Maratha community should decide their own line.
Patil refuses to succumb to political pressure
A big political meaning is being drawn from this statement of Patil. What the experts have to do is to make their point clear through gestures. He said that we had asked for a list of candidates from the Dalit and Muslim communities but we could not get that list. Therefore, we have decided not to field any candidate in the elections. We have not taken this decision under any political pressure. Maharashtra’s senior leader and NCP chief Sharad Pawar has described Patil’s announcement as a decision taken at the right time.
MVA expected to benefit
Jarang’s reservation movement has shown a lot of influence in the politics of Maharashtra. During the last few months, Patil has gone on hunger strike several times demanding separate reservation for Marathas. He has also been getting support from various political parties on this sensitive issue. During his agitation he has been targeting the Shinde government.
Political experts say that the opposition grand alliance MVA is expected to benefit from his distancing from the elections. Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s NCP have now got open ground in Marathwada and Western Maharashtra. There are 70 assembly seats in Western Maharashtra and 46 assembly seats in Marathwada.
In the event of presence of candidates from Jarange, there was a fear of division among Maratha, Dalit and Muslim voters, which could benefit the Mahayuti. Now his U-turn is expected to have a big political impact.