Maratha quota: Rajya Sabha MP Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje to sit on indefinite fast

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Rajya Sabha MP Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje on Monday said he will sit on "fast unto death" from February 26 over the issue of Maratha quota.

Sambhajiraje, a direct descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, said he was taking this step to give justice to the Maratha community.

The Supreme Court had last May struck down the Maharashtra law granting reservation to the Maratha community in admissions and government jobs in the state.

Sambhajiraje alleged that there is no clarity on the status of the review petition filed by the Maharashtra government after the Supreme Court rejected the quota.

"I had asked the government to file a review petition when the quota was rejected. They took time. It was alright. They filed a review petition. But what is its status? We don't know,¿ the MP told reporters here.

He said organisations representing the Maratha community had urged him against ¿taking the extreme step¿ of staging the protest himself.

"I alone will sit on fast unto death from February 26 at Azad Maidan in Mumbai. I am taking this step to give justice to the people of the community," he added.
He alleged that the MVA government in Maharashtra has not acted on other demands of Marathas and added that the community should get a reservation that will survive (the legal scrutiny).

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