MUMBAI: Maratha activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Friday rejected an appeal by chief minister Eknath Shinde to put off his march to Mumbai to demand inclusion of the Maratha community in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) for quotas in government jobs and education

“There is a limit to everything. The youth (from the Maratha community) are coming to seek justice. CM Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis should closely watch as we are leaving for Mumbai tomorrow morning,” Jarange-Patil said on Friday.

The statement was his response response to the chief minister Eknath Shinde who asked him to review the decision to march to Mumbai when the government was still making efforts. “We have made the promise and are working on it. I urge and request Jarange-Patil to take a conciliatory stand when the government is positive. He should avoid holding a protest,” Shinde said.

The government was bringing legislation in February for reservation to the Maratha community, Shinde said, underlying that this would be done without affecting reservation to the OBC and other communities. ”This reservation will pass legal scrutiny… A curative petition has also been filed before the Supreme Court,” he said.

The Maratha activist has previously announced that the march, which will start from Jalna on Saturday, will reach Mumbai on January 26 after covering 400 km in seven days.

In Mumbai, Jarange-Patil plans to sit on an indefinite hunger strike, either at Azad Maidan or at Shivaji Park. His supporters insist that lakhs of people from the community would join him in the agitation. It is planned that the protesters will walk three to four hours every day, and then switch to vehicles for the second half of the day after lunch.

On Saturday, the march will start from Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna to Shirur of Beed district covering over 82 km. The following day, the march will reach Karanji Ghat in Ahmednagar. By the end of day three, The march is expected to reach Ranjangaon in Pune by the end of day three, Chandan Nagar in Pune by day four, Lonavala by day five and Panvel by the sixth day. On January 26, they will start walking either from Panvel or from Chembur to Azad Maidan or Shivaji Park to start an indefinite hunger strike.

“For how much time can I take a conciliatory stand as we have given a total of seven months to the government to fulfil the promise? Last time, a march to Mumbai was declared on December 23 but the government failed to issue certificates to 54 lakh Marathas,” he said.

“I was positive for so many months. But there is a difference between being positive and implementation,” he said.