Wadettiwar claims cancelled irrigation contract fuelled Jarange's agitation

Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil had undertaken a 20-day hunger strike over the Hyderabad Gazette and Kunbi certificate demands. He was also planning to take his march to Mumbai. After a government delegation successfully mediated in Patoda in Beed district, Jarange gave the government three months to fulfil his demands and ended his fast. But senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar has made a serious allegation about the same agitation, claiming there was a different undercurrent behind it.

Wadettiwar said he has evidence and can produce it if needed. He said, "I have proof, I will send the proof, I can show it right now if you want, so I consider that challenge hollow talk. One should not bring up things without reason. I have evidence that this concerns irrigation department work, I have photographs in which Jarange Patil's driver is driving the vehicle, and at times a contractor is seen sitting on the stage - he is a contractor. I do not speak without evidence, so I will send proof on this matter to whoever wants it."

Wadettiwar further said it would not be right to go too deep into this right now, but that he would explain it in stages. He said one contract had been given by the irrigation department, and the order to cancel it came directly from the Chief Minister's office. He suspects that the trouble caused by this may have added momentum to the agitation.

Separately, an OBC committee meeting was held in Nagpur under Vijay Wadettiwar's leadership, at which it was decided to hold an agitation in Delhi demanding a caste census of OBCs. OBC office-bearers from the Nagpur division attended the meeting, and it was decided that the agitation in Delhi would be held in the first week of November.

Wadettiwar also targeted the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). He alleged that in the name of SIR, the government, having lost credibility among the people, is trying to remain in power by cutting the votes of opposition parties in Maharashtra. He said that according to the Commission's list, about 2 crore 66 lakh 88 thousand 478 voters are under question for being relocated, dead or duplicate entries, meaning around 21 percent of voters could be removed from the final list. Of these, 76 lakh 135 voters are listed as relocated, 45 lakh 520 voters are shown as absent, and 62 lakh 48 thousand 281 voters have discrepancies. This total figure reaches about 2 crore 10 lakh 88 thousand.

Wadettiwar also said that in the 37 minority-dominated seats where voter numbers were increased in large numbers, the figure stands at 29.77 percent. These are Muslim-majority, SC and ST seats, and that is where this manipulation has taken place. He questioned why voters did not decrease in the ruling party's seats but decreased in opposition parties' seats, and said the Commission has no answer for how 76 lakh voters came to be relocated.