Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil made a U-turn on Monday and asked candidates backed by him to withdraw from contesting the November 20 Maharashtra polls, in a move that could electorally benefit the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi.

The announcement came on the last day of withdrawal of nominations and hours after the activist had vowed to take revenge on the ruling Mahayuti alliance by backing more than 25 candidates, mostly Independents.

“We have decided not to contest and I have asked aspirants to withdraw their nominations. The Maratha community will decide on its own whom to defeat and whom to elect,” Patil told reporters in his native village in Jalna district on Monday morning. “There is no pressure on me and I have no affiliation to any party,” he added.

The U-turn came barely hours after the activist had late on Sunday evening vowed to teach a lesson to the ruling Mahayuti for “humiliating” and “cheating” Marathas. He had also promised to declare the names of some 25 candidates he was backing on Monday morning.

“It is not possible to contest and win an election on the strength of one caste. We are new in politics. If we field a candidate and he loses, it will be a shame for the caste. Therefore, I request all the Maratha candidates to withdraw their nominations,” Patil told reporters.

Though the ruling Mahayuti partners — the BJP and the Shiv Sena — welcomed the move, it is widely perceived that the activist’s backing out could aid the Opposition alliance of the Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (Sharad Pawar).

The protracted agitation by Patil, demanding quota benefits to Marathas under the OBC category, had turned the community against the Mahayuti, particularly the BJP. This had led to the BJP’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls with the party managing to win only nine seats and their alliance only 17 of the 48 seats.

The quota activist’s move to withdraw his candidates from the fray is expected to check the division of Maratha votes. Internally, the BJP has been eyeing a division in the Maratha votes, fearing that the anger of the community in the state was mostly against the party’s face — deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Patil too has been constantly singling out Fadnavis, accusing him of denying quota benefits to Marathas. “The chief minister (Eknath Shinde) had promised to give us reservation…. But Fadnavis did not let that happen. He told the Centre how the party would benefit through the OBCs by denying reservation to the Marathas,” the activist said repeatedly.

Rebels withdraw

Along with the quota activists, many rebels from both the ruling and the Opposition camps pulled out on the last day of withdrawals amid hectic efforts by top party leaders to check the division of votes.

Data showed that until Monday, 983 nominations had been withdrawn but the exact number from each side was not clear. After the last day, a total of 8,272 candidates are in the fray for the 288 seats.