Mumbai, July 26: The Marathas who constitute 33 percent of the state's population have been relentlessly expressing anguish against the Devendra Fadnavis government for not fulfilling their reservation demand. Now speculations are doing rounds that CM Fadnavis will be asked to resign. The  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a constituent of Sangh Parivar (RSS), is believed to be in no mood to disappoint the community, which is also a significant vote bank for the party. Therefore, the party is mulling to replace Fadnavis, who belongs to a Brahmin community. Since the speculation is rife, legislators who are strong supporters of Fadnavis have already started raising their voices against it.

Ravi Rana, the independent legislator from Amravati Badnera constituency, has told to ABP News that if Fadnavis is asked to resign, then he along with six other legislators, will withdraw their support from the state government. In his statement, he clarified that the independent legislators extended their support to BJP only due to Fadnavis and if he is replaced then they will oppose the move.

As per the news report, the BJP legislators who are against Fadnavis are trying all possible ways to replace him. According to political pundits in Maharashtra's BJP party, there are two factions-- one supporting Fadnavis and the other supporting Union Minister Nitin Gadkari who wish to see him heading the state. The two groups are now said to be working actively to uphold their own leaders amid internal party conflicts.

The Marathas from Monday called a statewide bandh to press their demand for reservation in educational institutions and government jobs. Since Fadnavis failed to fulfil their reservations demands in last two years, the Maratha Kranti Morcha turned violent and held demonstrations. Several vehicles were torched as a mark of protest and the CM's effigy was burned down. At several places, the internet services were suspended as a precautionary measure. It is to be noted that although the Maratha outfit called off the bandh, the tensed situation continued in Navi Mumbai.

Furthermore, Maratha MLAs resigned as a mark of protest. The Shiv Sena legislator Harshavardhan Jadhav, who represents the Kannad assembly constituency from Aurangabad district offered to resign in support of the Maratha quota demand. After him, MLA Bhausaheb Patil Chikatgaonkar, who represents Vaijapur assembly constituency for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) too announced that he is resigning to push for the Maratha quota cause.

The recent agitation held by the Marathas was triggered after a 28-year-old man named Kakasaheb Shinde jumped into the River Godavari. Besides this, another man named Jayant Sonawane, 55-year old, also died after he consumed poison, which added more fuel to the protest which was already taking a violent turn.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 26, 2018 05:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).