A senior Maharashtra Minister has expressed the hope that the ongoing agitation by the Marathas for reservation will be withdrawn in the next few days as the BJP government is working towards resolving the issue and the community has reposed trust in it. The comments by Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar came in the wake of Maratha outfits announcing a fresh round of agitation from August 9. He said the BJP's resounding victory in the elections to the Sangli and Jalgaon municipal corporations will give the party an upper-hand in dealing with the quota issue.

Speaking to select media persons here over the weekend, Mungantiwar said the two cities have a large population of Marathas and the BJP's victory shows the community has faith in the party-led government in the state. The BJP leader said the Devendra Fadnavis government is very clear in its intention to provide reservation to the Marathas and accused "some people" of "instigating" the community which is agitating over the quota demand.