Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil’s decision to field candidates for the Maharashtra elections next month has come as good news for the ruling Mahayuti alliance of the Shiv Sena, BJP and NCP (Ajit Pawar), which is desperately looking for ways to offset the anger of the numerically dominant community.

Patil, who has been leading a protracted agitation demanding that Marathas be given reservation under the wider OBC category, had last Sunday announced that he would field candidates in select Assembly segments. He accused both the ruling Mahayuti and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi of betraying the cause of the Marathas by not taking a clear stand.

“We will field candidates in constituencies where the Marathas have a strong presence so that we stand a strong chance to win. There are at least 36 such constituencies,” Patil said, addressing his supporters at his village in Jalna district.

Patil said that in the other constituencies, the focus of the Marathas should be to defeat those opposed to the Maratha quota. There are 288 Assembly segments in Maharashtra.

If the activist — who has started conducting interviews of interested candidates — keeps his word, it could come as a blessing in disguise for the incumbent Mahayuti. Maratha anger was one of the major reasons for the Mahayuti’s poor performance in the general election. Large sections of the community had backed the Opposition MVA (Congress, Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP) as Patil accused the incumbent government of not fulfilling their demand.

“If Jarange Patil indeed fields candidates, it will certainly help us by splitting the Maratha votes. But we are not sure if he will stick to his decision,” a Shiv Sena (Shinde) MP said, claiming that the activist was known for his flip-flops.

The Eknath Shinde government had in February passed a bill providing 10 per cent reservation for the Marathas in government jobs and education. It was, however, not acceptable to Patil. He demanded that Marathas be given OBC certificates and included in the wider category, arguing that the separate reservation wouldn’t stand legal scrutiny. The state government couldn’t fulfil this demand as the OBC communities protested against the encroachment on their reservation pie.

The quota activist acknowledged that his decision to field candidates would end up helping the Mahayuti but felt that the Marathas needed to register their relevance. “If we field candidates, the Mahayuti will be happy and if we don’t then the MVA will be happy… But we have to be vigilant because they (politicians) want to finish us,” he told his supporters.

Internally, Patil's decision to field candidates is being seen as part of the “micromanagement” by strategists of the ruling side headed by home minister Amit Shah.

Political ambitions have already created a rift in the Kolhapur royal family, with Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati — the son of Congress Kolhapur MP Chhatrapati Shahu Shahaji — floating Swarajya Sangathana and holding talks with Patil.

Fielding of candidates by the rebel son of the royal family, which is held in high esteem by the voters, too, would end up benefiting the ruling Mahayuti by splitting the Maratha votes.