WEST BENGAL:
MAMATA TAKES
COVER PG
KERALA:
MAN-MADE FLOOD
PG
STATES
MAHARASHTRA
THE ISOLATION
OF FADNAVIS
The Maratha quota agitation
has the chief minister in a
bind. Even the party is no help
By Kiran D. Tare
MUMBAI
THE OUTSIDER
CM Fadnavis after the
all-party meeting on the
Maratha agitation
D
evendra Fadnavis was visibly grim at the all-
party meeting convened on July 28 to discuss
the agitation by Maratha protesters demanding
reservations. “It is in the high court; my hands
are tied,” the chief minister said, appealing to
the 20 coalition and opposition party representatives to
help quell the protests.
Maratha protesters, who are seeking 16 per cent res-
ervation in government jobs and educational institutions,
have been on a rampage, torching vehicles and blocking
vehicular traffic across the state. They have threatened to
force a complete shutdown after August 9. The fury of the
Marathas has quite literally confined the chief minister
to his Mantralaya office in Mumbai. Fadnavis also app-
ears to be isolated in his own party, with not one of his
cabinet colleagues or BJP functionaries offering any help.
MILIND SHELTE
GUJARAT: PATEL
RAPPED
PG
MADHYA PRADESH:
SAFARI SCAM
8 PG 19
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