MUMBAI: The protest by the Maratha community for reservation took a violent turn on Monday after protesters targeted the houses and offices of several legislators in Beed and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar districts. Reports of violence continued to come in till late on Monday even after chief minister Eknath Shinde announced interim steps for reservation and issued appeals for peace.

Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil whose fast entered the fifth day, turned down the government’s request for talks but called for putting an end to violence, saying he would discontinue his agitation if the violence continued.

Jarange-Patil has been on a hunger strike since Friday demanding that the government consider all Marathas as Kunbi (a sub-caste of Maratha) to entitle them to reservation benefits for jobs and education available to people from the Other Backward Classes (OBC).

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On Monday, two MPs from the ruling Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Hemant Patil and Hemant Godse, announced their resignation. Two MLAs, one each from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, also offered to resign.

The protest took a violent turn on Monday as the protesters set afire the bungalows of two sitting Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs Prakash Solanke (Ajit Pawar faction) and Sandeep Kshirsagar (Pawar faction) in Beed district. Offices of former NCP MLA and minister Jaydutt Kshirsagar’s office were also set on fire.

In Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, protesters threw stones at BJP legislator Prashant Bamb’s office in Gangakhed. Stones were also thrown at the district council and municipal council offices at Majalgaon and another government office in Ashti tehsil in Beed district.

Protesters also blocked the Solapur-Akkalkot state highway by setting tyres on fire.

The protest intensified since Friday when the agitators started indulging in violence and stopping politicians from entering villages and torching state transport buses.

Chief minister Eknath Shinde, who held a meeting of the cabinet sub-committee on reservation on Monday, appealed to Jarange-Patil and the protesters to end the violence. He also announced steps such Kunbi caste certificates certificates to the descendants of those recorded as part of the Kunbi sub-caste during the pre-independence Nizam era to enable them to get quota under the Other Backward Class (OBC) category.

“The protest has taken a violent turn, youths are committing suicides, and it has brought a bad name to the community. The agitation has gone out of control and it needs to be checked whether there is somebody behind it. We are concerned about the health of Jarange-Patil and he should cooperate by taking medical treatment and checkups,” he said. Shinde also asked him to give more time to the government to take steps.

Jarange-Patil rejected Shinde’s announcement, saying all Marathas should be given the OBC quota benefit.

“There is no need to produce the documents (from the Nizam era). If one brother is getting the reservation because of the Kunbi certificate, the other brother elsewhere should get similar treatment. The protest will not be called off, in fact if the government fails to give us reservation, there will be a third phase of the protest,” he said.

Turning to the community, Jarange asked them to immediately put a firm stop to violence as it was giving the agitation a bad name.

“I will observe the situation today and tomorrow and announce my decision (about the future course of action) by tomorrow evening. I have doubts that ruling party politicians are behind the violent incidents to defame the protest,” he said. He also alleged that people linked to the ruling alliance could be behind the violence to put presssure on him to call off the agitation.