Manoj Jarange Patil reached the Shivneri Fort's base in Pune district.
He made a stop to pay his respects to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at the fort.
The activist had departed from Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district on Wednesday.
Activist Manoj Jarange Patil, who had declared to launch a protest in Mumbai pertaining to the demand of reservation for the Maratha community reached the Shivneri Fort's base in Pune district along with hundreds of supporters on Thursday morning, PTI reported. He made a stop to pay his respects to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at the fort, which is his birthplace.
The activist had departed from Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district on Wednesday to launch a hunger strike for the cause but agreed to meet a government delegation near Pune on his way to the state capital.
Jaranage had claimed that he received a call from minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who heads the cabinet sub-committee on Maratha quota, informing him that a government team would arrive at Shivneri for talks. The minister, however, claimed that no such decision had been taken.
The Maharashtra government had earlier met with Patil to ask him to postpone the protest in light of the ongoing Ganpati festival. The Bombay High Court had also expressed disagreement with the protest. A bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sandeep Marne noted that the government can decide whether to offer an alternative place at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai to the respondent (Jarange) to hold a peaceful protest so that the tempo of life in Mumbai is not disturbed.
The activist, however, had assured that his protest would not cause any disruption to the festival.
Jarange has been demanding that all Marathas be recognised as Kunbis – an agrarian caste included in the OBC category – which will make them eligible for reservation in government jobs and education.
Police on Wednesday had allowed Maratha quota movement leader Manoj Jarange to stage a peaceful protest at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on August 29, restricting the number of supporters at the venue to 5,000, an official said, PTI reported.
