Quota demand: Maratha outfits gather in Solapur without police nod for protest

Over 1000 members of various Maratha outfits gathered in Maharashtras Solapur city on Sunday despite no permission from police to take part in a protest march over their demand for reservation in government jobs and educationThe Solapur police have denied permission for the protest march named as the Maratha Akrosh Morcha led by former MLC Narendra PatilHeavy security was deployed and several key roads leading to Solapur were barricaded by police to prevent members of the proMaratha outfits from reaching their protest venue near the statue of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj in the cityHowever despite the heavy security several protesters managed to reach the venueIn May this year the Supreme Court struck down the Maharashtra law granting quota to Marathas in admissions and government jobsAlso Read Marathas give Maharashtra govt 30 days postpone protestTalking to reporters at the protest venue Patil said even if the police deny permission for their march and put up barricades members of the Maratha outfits will take part in the protest march in large numbersBefore the protest march I had toured all tehsils in the district and met members of the Maratha community and various outfits I got a huge response from them for the morcha There will be a backlash if police try to stop members of the Maratha outfits he warnedPatil said he was earlier hopeful that the Solapur police would give them permission to take out the morcha But the way they have deployed security it seems there will be some conflict with police during the protest he saidThis time we informed the police about the protest and sought permission But if anything untoward happens from the police side during the march the future protest march will be carried out without any permission If you police want to register offenses we have no issues he saidSolapur City Commissioner of Police Ankush Shinde said the protest march has not been given permission due to the Covid19 situationAnticipating that a large number of members of the Maratha outfits will come to Solapur for the morcha we deployed heavy security in the city We will try to stop the march and take appropriate action said ShindeHe said by 11 am 1000 to 1500 people gathered at the venue for the protest marchSolapur BJP MP Jaysiddheshwar Shivacharya Mahaswami local party MLA Ram Satpute and some party leaders also reached the protest venueThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever