Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Manoj Jarange Patil walked into a packed press conference here on Thursday morning carrying a promise, and left having played an audio clip he says is an internal conversation in the BJP's circles. In doing so he turned the Rs 500-crore allegation that has trailed him for months straight back at Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Shinde had dared Jarange, the face of the Maratha reservation agitation, to hand his evidence to the investigating agencies. Jarange accepted, and told reporters he does not speak at anyone's bidding. "Shinde saheb asked for proof. Today I am making it public, before the media," he said.
According to Jarange, the recording captures a plan to blunt his influence ahead of the assembly elections by pushing forward Maratha faces and raising funds at a personal level to counter him. "For three years a planned conspiracy has been run against me and the Maratha reservation movement," he alleged.
He said he had neither taken money from the BJP nor given any to anyone, and called the Rs 500-crore charge a smear. "I am nobody's political platform. I speak for the Maratha community," he said.
Turning to the criticism from Shinde's camp, Jarange said senior leaders should have understood the subject first. "You should not speak as if good sense has left you," he said, and asked for an impartial inquiry into the clip.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut backed him. "Eknath Shinde has mortgaged Maharashtra's self-respect at Lawrence Bishnoi's feet," Raut told reporters in Mumbai. He called Jarange a son of Maharashtra, and said the people would thank him if he tore the masks off corruption.
Separately, OBC leader Navnath Waghmare demanded a narco test and an ED probe of both Jarange and Shinde. "If a Rs 500-crore transaction took place, both their finances should be examined," he said. How the ruling camp responds to the allegations is being watched across the state.