Demand for Maratha Quota: Karnataka State Bus Set On Fire In Maharashtra; Two Shiv Sena MPs From The Eknath Shinde Camp Resign

Sena Shiv In support of the Maratha reservation demand, members of parliament from Nashik and Hingoli in Maharashtra—two places that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde holds dear—have submitted their resignations.

On Monday, Hemant Patil, the MP for Hingoli, handed in his resignation letter to the Lok Sabha office in New Delhi, while Hemant Godse, the MP for Nashik, conveyed it to Chief Minister Shinde.

“My resignation letter was submitted to the office secretary because the Lok Sabha Speaker was not present in his office,” Patil allegedly said at a New Delhi media briefing. Additionally, I have an acknowledgment.”

Notably, Patil took this decision after demonstrators in Yavatmal stopped him and asked him to clarify his position on the quota issue. Patil wrote his resignation letter on the spot and gave it to the protesters.

“I am not born in Nehru-Gandhi family,” Patil said in reaction to a statement made by Supriya Sule, the working president of the NCP (the Sardar Pawar faction), who implied that Patil’s departure was a publicity ploy. The current generation is in charge. “They should have resigned if leaders truly cared about the Maratha community, as they would have taken the initiative (to grant quota).”

Patil further said, “Several leaders from the Maratha community went on to become chief ministers but the community didn’t get anything”

Shiv Sena MP Godse in Nashik sent his letter of resignation in response to questions from fasting Maratha demonstrators about his position on the issue.

He asked CM Shinde to accelerate the Maratha community’s quota process in his resignation letter, which he delivered to him.

“The Maratha community has been striving to get the reservation for the last many years,” the letter said. The community’s reservation was previously rejected by the court. It was the reservation problem that you (Shinde) concentrated on when you were appointed chief minister. It said, “After you took oath in front of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s bust at Dussehra rally to provide reservation to the Maratha community, members of the Maratha community felt assured.”

Godse voiced worry that the government had not resolved the reservation problem by the deadline set by Jalna-based quota activist Manoj Jarange, whose six-day indefinite hunger strike for reservations began on Monday.

“With every day that goes by, Manoj Jarange’s health declines. I am stepping down as a member of parliament in light of the strong sentiments of the Maratha community,” Godse said.

State bus in Karnataka catches fire
In a different incident, on Monday night in Turori village, Osmanabad district, Maharashtra, a bus owned by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) was purposefully set on fire. This incident took place in the middle of the state’s growing Maratha reservation demonstrations, which led to the bus—which at the time had 48 people on board—being set on fire. Thankfully, reports indicate that every passenger is safe.

Unknown persons set fire to the KSRTC bus, registration number KA 38F1201, when it was traveling from Bhalki in the Bidar district to Pune. Officials from KSRTC acted quickly to guarantee the crew and passenger’s safety after the event.

In Turori hamlet, the demonstrators stopped the bus and told the occupants to get out, according to News9live, before lighting it on fire. The local police have opened a case and are aggressively looking for the offenders.

The Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KKRTC) halted all bus services to Maharashtra as soon as they learned about the event. Managing Director of KKRTC M. Rachappa made this choice. No timeframe has been given for the restoration of law and order in the neighboring state, which is a prerequisite for the commencement of bus services.

It is noteworthy that this occurrence happened just before November 1st, Kannada Rajyotsava. A judicial battle between Karnataka and Maharashtra centers on the Belagavi boundary and the status of 840 villages that speak Marathi. Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde, has said that his administration would dispatch a delegate to Belagavi to endorse the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) function commemorating a “black day.”