Maratha job quota agitators capture minister's bungalow

Mumbai, Jan 21 (IANS) Activists demanding reservations for Marathas Wednesday captured the high security official bungalow of a Maharashtra minister and left him stranded outside the house in his vehicle.

At least a hundred activists of the Jijau Brigade-Sambhaji Brigade gathered in small groups outside the strongly guarded bungalow of Cooperation Minister Harshvardhan Patil at Nariman Point in south Mumbai.

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Taking the security personnel completely unawares, at least 23 women activists stormed into the house.

They asked the personal and official staffers of the minister to vacate the bungalow, and locked themselves inside, raising slogans in support of their demands.

The organisation's state president Anant Chonde told IANS that they had been demanding a meeting with the minister and Chief Minister Ashok Chavan for long to discuss the pending issue of Marathas in the state.

'Some concessions were given to the Kunbi caste, falling in the Maratha category, but overall nothing concrete has been done so far in the matter. We shall vacate his bungalow only if the government issues the relevant notification today itself,' Chonde said.

However, if the government failed to take cognizance of their demands, the agitators would march to the chief minister's office for justice, Chonde said.

Meanwhile, Patil, who arrived there from a meeting, was left stranded outside the bungalow and preferred to stay put in his vehicle.

Although the police are present outside the bungalow, they are handling the sensitive issue with restraint, especially since women are involved in the incident, an official said.