Maha on security ‘alert’, CM talks to fasting Maratha leader

Mumbai, Oct 31 (IANS) A day after violence and arson gripped certain districts, the Maharashtra Police went on ‘alert’ mode across the state, while Chief Minister Eknath Shinde spoke with Shivba Sanghatana leader Manoj Jarange-Patil whose indefinite hunger strike for Maratha reservations entered the seventh day on Tuesday.

In the wake of targeting of several elected leaders and politicians, the state police have also beefed up security outside the homes and offices of MLAs, MPs, Ministers, etc., as a precaution, and the offices of government departments and political parties in some locations in Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur, Pune and other parts of the state.

The epicentre of violence, Beed district remained tense for the third day after it witnessed widespread stone-pelting, arson, torching of vehicles of the Majalgaon Nagar Parishad, NCP (SP) MLA Sandeep R. Kshirsagar, NCP (AP) MLA Prakash Solanke, a Shiv Sena (UBT) leader’s office was also burnt down in Beed, while BJP MLA Prashant Bamb’s office was torched in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

Taking serious cognizance of the violence, the Beed and Osmanabad collectorates late on Monday slapped prohibitory orders banning assembly of five or more persons in the districts for an indefinite period, and on Tuesday Internet services were suspended in Beed for 24 hours.

Beed bore the brunt of the violence with more than a 100 buses, government and private vehicles badly damaged or burnt down, though there have been no casualties of any kind.

During their telecon, the CM is understood to have apprised Jarange-Patil on the government’s decision of Monday, the preliminary report of the caste panel of retired Justice Sandeep Shinde, and also appealed afresh to the Maratha leader to take care of his health and take medication/water.

The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi has called upon the Governor to convene a special session of the legislature to discuss the Maratha quotas issue and other burning problems in the state.

Meanwhile, more than 4,000 villages in many districts have banned the entry of leaders from all political parties, and now they plan to bar their entry at the taluka levels, sparking concerns even as the election season approaches.

At least two MPs and two MLAs have so far resigned from their seats in support of the Maratha quotas, and more are likely to follow suit.

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