Maratha Quota: Houses of 2 NCP Leaders, Civic Office Torched as Protests Intensify; 3 NDA Legislators Resign – News18

As fresh protests erupted over the Maratha Quota issue in Maharashtra, the houses of two leaders of NCP’s Sharad Pawar faction were set ablaze in Beed district on Monday.

Videos of protestors vandalising and setting the residence of MLA Prakash Solanke and Sandeep Kshirsagar in Beed on fire went viral. Vehicles parked inside the house were also set ablaze by the agitators.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Solanke, a member of the opposition Nationalist Congress Party said, “I was inside my home when it was attacked. Fortunately, none of my family or staff were injured. We are all safe but there is a huge loss of property.”

Earlier today, the office of former minister Jaydattaji Kshirsagar, who is now a member of the Eknath Shinde faction and an NCP office was also torched Beed as fresh violence sparked in several districts of Maharashtra, as per an India Today report.

In separate incidents, protesters set the first floor of a municipal council building on fire and vandalised it in Beed district. The office of BJP MLA Prashant Bamb was vandalised in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, according to police.

Trail of Resignations Amid Maratha Quota Protests

A trail of political resignations followed in support of the demand for the Maratha quota after incidents of fresh violence were reported in several districts of Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena (Shinde) Lok Sabha MP Hemant Patil from Hingoli and BJP MLA Laxman Pawar from Gevrai resigned from their positions in support of the Maratha reservations protest.

Nashik MP Hemant Godse also sent his resignation letter to CM Shinde in support of Maratha reservation demand.

Meanwhile, NCP leader Supriya Sule on Monday demanded the resignation of Maharashtra Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the Maratha quota violence.

State Bus Services Suspended from Pune to Beed, Latur

MSRTC on Monday suspended its services from Pune to two districts of Marathwada after protestors demanding reservation for the Maratha community pelted stones at some buses.

Bus services from Pune to Beed and Latur districts of Marathwada were also disrupted during the day, while several buses going to various places via Beed were cancelled, said Dnyaneshwar Ranavare, depot in-charge at Shivajinagar.

At least 13 MSRTC buses have been damaged in the last 48 hours, including four on Monday, in the Maratha quota stir underway in Maharashtra, leading to the state-run transport corporation deciding to shut operations in 30 of its 250 depots, an official said.

MSRTC has a fleet of 15,000 buses and ferries around 60 lakh persons per day on routes across the state.

Earlier in the day, a group of Maratha reservation activists torched the first floor of the Majalgaon Municipal Council building and vandalised it in Maharashtra’s Beed district, after setting on fire the residence of local NCP MLA Prakash Solanke on Monday, police said.

In a related incident, Maratha quota supporters, armed with wooden sticks, vandalised the office of BJP MLA Prashant Bamb at Gangapur in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district in central Maharashtra, they said.

Uddhav Camp’s MP Demands Special Session of Parliament on Maratha Quota

Lok Sabha member from Dharashiv in Maharashtra, Omprakash Rajenimbalkar on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a special session of Parliament to discuss the quotas being demanded by the Maratha and Dhangar communities.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said peaceful agitations are being organised in the state.