Amid speculation over the fate of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, five MLAs, including one of Bharatiya Janata Party, have so far resigned over the Maratha quota demand.

Bharat Bhalke (Congress), Rahul Aher (BJP) and Dattatraya Bharne (NCP) resigned as legislators on Thursday. Earlier, Harshvardhan Jadhav (Shiv Sena) and Bhausaheb Patil Chikatgaonkar (NCP) from Aurangabad district had resigned in support of the quota demand.

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Bhalke, who represents Pandharpur in Solapur district, said he was resigning to express solidarity with quota protests.

Talking to PTI, Bhalke said he had visited the family of Maratha activist Kakasaheb Shinde, who committed suicide by jumping into the Godavari in Aurangabad district on July 23.

“The sentiments of the Maratha youth are intense. There is lot of unrest over the lack of (job) opportunities. Promises made to them have not been fulfilled. I have decided to resign to express my solidarity with the Maratha quota protesters as well as in support of the demand for quota by the Dhangars and other deprived communities,” Bhalke said.

BJP’s Aher, who represents Chandwad in Nashik district, announced in Nashik city on Thursday that he was resigning as MLA.

He handed over his resignation letter to Maratha Kranti Morcha activists who were fasting in protest outside the district collector’s office this afternoon.

“Please treat this letter as my resignation. Whenever required, the Maratha community members could hand it over to Assembly Speaker,” he stated.

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Meanwhile, a group of six Independent legislators on Thursday came out solidly in support of Fadnavis, warning the Bharatiya Janata Party against a leadership change in the state.

“In case the BJP decides to remove Fadnavis, we shall withdraw support to the state government,” the leader of the Independent legislators group Ravi Rana told media persons here.

On Wednesday, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut created a flutter by claiming that the BJP top leadership was contemplating replacing Fadnavis in the wake of the violent Maratha quota stir.

However, several senior state BJP leaders and ministers promptly dismissed Raut’s contentions as “rumour-mongering” even as the government came under severe fire from its ally Shiv Sena, the opposition Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for its failure to tackle the Maratha reservations issue.

“The CM is committed to giving reservations to the Maratha community. We shall not allow him to be replaceda If the BJP attempts to remove him, we shall pull our support to the government,” said Rana.

Adding a new dimension to the ongoing political row, Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde on Thursday said that “if the Maratha reservations file had come to my table, I would have cleared without a moment’s delay”.

Meeting a group of Marathas agitating in her home town Beed, she expressed her complete support to the community’s demands, but said the delay was because the matter is currently sub judice.

(With inputs from agencies)