Pune: Unhappy over the government’s handling of the Maratha reservation issue, two legislators from Aurangabad district — one from the ruling Shiv Sena and the other from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — resigned on Wednesday.
Sena leader Harshvardhan Jadhav, an MLA from the Kannad constituency, was the first to act, followed by the NCP’s Bhausaheb Patil Chikatgaonkar, a legislator from Vaijapur.
Mr. Jadhav had issued an ultimatum about his resignation to the government if it failed to issue an ordinance on the Maratha quota by 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
“The State is on the boil over the reservation issue, yet this government does not seem interested in a speedy resolution...people are giving up their lives in my constituency. I have no interest in being a member of the Assembly,” Mr. Jadhav said.
Mr. Chikatgaonkar criticised the government for its apathy even after the suicide of a Maratha reservation activist Kakasaheb Shinde, who jumped into the Godavari on Monday.
To show solidarity with agitators, Mr. Jadhav has been participating in sit-ins for the last two days.