India, Oct. 21 -- Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil on Tuesday sparked a political controversy by alleging that deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde had told a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader that he had paid the activist Rs.500 crore during his agitation for Maratha reservation two years ago.

Addressing a massive Dussehra rally at Narayangad, a prominent religious site associated with the Maratha community in Beed district, Jarange-Patil also reiterated his resolve to march to Mumbai if the state government failed to fulfil his reservation demands within the three-month deadline he had set in September.

"On the eighth day of my indefinite hunger strike at Antarwali Sarathi last month, some senior ...