India News | Dhangar Activists Allege Minister Girish Mahajan Refused to Visit Members on Hunger Strike

Latur, July 7 (PTI) Members of the Dhangar (shepherd) community on Sunday accused Latur district guardian minister Girish Mahajan of neglecting two activists on hunger strike for ST quota demand after an audio clip went viral.

At the centre of the row is the audio clip of a purported conversation between MLC Ramesh Karad and Mahajan, who expressed his inability to visit activists Anil Goykar and Chandrakant Hajare, who have been observing fast since June 28 in Latur, due to ongoing legislature session.

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Mahajan, who belongs to the BJP, also purportedly said that a meeting had already been held with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister a few days prior, but the activists were not satisfied.

Mahajan could not be contacted for comments.

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"Guardian Minister Girish Mahajan neglected the Dhangar community activists' strike, which disappointed us. The community will not allow him to move into Latur district, and his vehicle will be pelted with stones," said activists.

A Dhangar activist, Sadashiv Abhange, told PTI that the minister should not have spoken in such a manner in the viral clip.

"As a responsible minister, he should have visited the activists, who have been on a hunger strike for ten days," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)