Priyanka Gandhi likely to join Dhangar rally

Mumbai: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will attend a rally organised by Dhangar leaders, who are seeking reservation under the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category for their community, on August 11 at Pandharpur, claimed a Congress leader.

With Assembly polls just around the corner, Dhangar community is looking to create pressure on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena government to fulfill their long-standing demand.

The latest development is being seen as an attempt by the embattled Congress-NCP alliance to woo the community. At present, most of the leaders of the community are with the BJP.

Ramhari Rupanwar of the Congress and Anna Dange of the NCP, both from the Dhangar community, had recently met other leaders from the community. “We are expecting at least two lakh people to attend the August 11 rally,” sources said.

Mr Rupanwar alleged the Devendra Fadnavis-led government of deliberately delaying the process of granting reservation to the community. He also added that all Dhangar organisations will be requested to participate in the rally.

The Dhangar reservation co-ordination committee had already declared that at least five lakh people will join a hunger strike from August 9.

It is to be noted that the Dhangar community has had reservation under the Vimukta Jati and Nomadic Tribes (VJNT) category.  However, it now seeks reservation under the ST category. Revenue minister Chandrakant Patil had said that the government is fully committed towards fulfilling the demand.

Rashtriya Samaj Party chief Mahadev Jankar, a Dhangar leader, also said the state government is likely to clear the issue before the election.