Maharashtra: OBC leader Ravindra Tonge on hunger strike shifted to govt hospital

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On Friday, the OBC leader Ravindra Tonge, who has been on a hunger strike for the last 12 days for various OBC demands, was shifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital after his condition deteriorated.

Ravindra Tonge, district unit chief of the student wing of the Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh, has been demanding that the Maratha community should not be included in the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) for the purpose of reservation.

According to the official, his other demands include provision of hostel facilities for OBC students.

OBC leaders have been agitating in many places in Maharashtra over these demands. Ravindra Tonge was admitted to the hospital after his blood pressure and sugar level dropped," officials said.

According to Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh's general secretary Sachin Rajurkar, Tonge's hunger strike will continue from the hospital.

Meanwhile, Vijay Wadettiwar, senior Congress leader stated that the Maharashtra government should provide assurance that it won't give quota to any community from the Other Backward Classes pool. The Leader of Opposition, on Friday, stated that there is "unrest" in the state Assembly over quota demands from various segments.

According to the new agency PTI, Wadettiwar sought assurance that no community will receive quota from existing reservations for OBC.

"The state government must give in writing that they will not provide quota to any community from the existing reservations for the OBCs," he was quoted as saying in the report.

"The issue of OBC reservation is a sin of the current government. It had earlier, in 2014, promised quota to the Dhangar community. This government has nothing to do with OBCs or those from the Maratha community," the senior Congress leader alleged.

(with inputs from PTI)