Eknath Khadse
Birth date2 September 1952 (age 74)
Birth placeMuktainagar, Bombay State, India
PartyNationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) (2024-Present)
Other partyNationalist Congress Party (2020-2024)
Bharatiya Janata Party (1980–2020)
SpouseManda[1]
OfficeMember of the Maharashtra Legislative Council
Term start8 July 2022
Constituencyelected by Legislative Assembly members
Office 1Minister of Revenue
Government of Maharashtra
Term start 131 October 2014
Term end 14 June 2016
1blankname 1Chief Minister
1namedata 1Devendra Fadnavis
Predecessor 1Balasaheb Thorat
Successor 1Chandrakant Patil
Office 2Minister of Agriculture
Government of Maharashtra
Term start 231 October 2014
Term end 24 June 2016
1blankname 2Chief Minister
1namedata 2Devendra Fadnavis
Predecessor 2Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil
Successor 2Pandurang Fundkar
Office 3Minister of State Excise
Government of Maharashtra
Term start 331 October 2014
Term end 34 June 2016
1blankname 3Chief Minister
1namedata 3Devendra Fadnavis
Predecessor 3Prithviraj Chavan
Successor 3Chandrashekhar Bawankule
Office 4Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development & Fisheries
Government of Maharashtra
Term start 431 October 2014
Term end 44 June 2016
1blankname 4Chief Minister
1namedata 4Devendra Fadnavis
Predecessor 4Abdul Sattar
Successor 4Mahadev Jankar
Office 5Minister of Minority Development & Aukaf
Government of Maharashtra
Term start 531 October 2014
Term end 54 June 2016
1blankname 5Chief Minister
1namedata 5Devendra Fadnavis
Predecessor 5Naseem Khan
Successor 5Vinod Tawde
Office 6Leader of the House
Maharashtra Legislative Council
1blankname 6Chief Minister
1namedata 6Devendra Fadnavis
Term start 69 December 2014
Term end 67 July 2016
Predecessor 6R R Patil
Successor 6Chandrakant Patil
Office 718th Leader of the Opposition
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
Term start 711 November 2009
Term end 721 October 2014
1blankname 7Chief Minister
1namedata 7Ashok Chavan
Prithviraj Chavan
Predecessor 7Ramdas Kadam
Successor 7Eknath Shinde
Office 8Minister of Water Resources
Government of Maharashtra
Term start 8June 1997
Term end 818 October 1999
1blankname 8Chief Minister
1namedata 8Manohar Joshi
Narayan Rane
Predecessor 8Mahadeo Shivankar
Office 9Minister of Finance
Government of Maharashtra
Term start 9September 1995
Term end 9June 1997
1blankname 9Chief Minister
1namedata 9Manohar Joshi
Narayan Rane
Predecessor 9Hashu Advani
Successor 9Mahadeo Shivankar
Office 10Minister of Higher & Technical Education
Government of Maharashtra
Term start 10June 1995
Term end 10September 1995
1blankname 10Chief Minister
1namedata 10Manohar Joshi
Office 11Member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
Term start 111990
Term end 112019
Constituency 11Muktainagar
Predecessor 11Haribhau Jaware

Eknath Ganpatrao Khadse (born 2 September 1952) is a politician and a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra state.[2][3] He was a Member of Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra from Muktainagar constituency for six consecutive terms till 2019.[4] He was a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party from 1987 until his resignation in October 2020.[5][6][7] He is a member of Legislative Council of Maharashtra.

Political career

Early years

Khadse lost his first election when he contested the Gram panchayat elections in Kothadi village. Later he became sarpanch of Kothadi village in 1984, remaining sarpanch until 1987.[8] In 1989, he was elected as member of the Maharashtra legislative assembly (MLA) for the Muktainagar constituency.

Khadse entered in active politics as a BJP worker in the 1980s and helped the party BJP establish its base in North Maharashtra.[9][10] In 1990's Khadse led karsevaks during Ram Janmabhoomi movement. He was arrested at Jhansi by Uttarpradesh police and was jailed for a month.[11]

Hailing from the influential Leva Gurjar community in North Maharashtra, Khadse quickly positioned himself as an OBC leader.[12]

State Minister (1995–1999)

In 1995, Khadse became a minister in Chief Minister Manohar Joshi's state cabinet. He was close to then-deputy CM and BJP leader Gopinath Munde and handled finance and irrigation portfolios between 1995 and 1999.[13] After Joshi's resignation as the chief minister, he took an oath as minister when Narayan Rane became Chief minister.[14]

On 13 December 2005, Eknath Khadse was suspended for six months from Maharashtra state assembly's lower house due to making derogatory remarks against the then-speaker Babasaheb Kupekar and Deputy speaker Pramod Shende in their chambers.[15][16]

Opposition leader (2009–2014)

Khadse served as the leader of the opposition from November 2009 to October 2014.[17] His successful tenure as the opposition leader led BJP to the victory in later 2014 election.[11]

2014 elections and chief minister contention

He announced breakup of long-held Shivsena-BJP alliance before 2014 assembly election and BJP decided to contest that election alone without Shiv Sena.[18] He assured Narendra Modi that BJP can win this election on their own.[19] After the strong showing in 2014 elections, Khadse was seen as the strong conteder for the role of Chief minister of Maharashtra,[9][20] but Devendra Fadnavis was ultimately chosen for the post.[21][22] Khadse held more than dozen portfolios during the first two years including ministries of excise, revenue, and agriculture.

Resignation from ministry (2016)

On 3 June 2016, Khadse resigned as Revenue Minister following allegations of corruption and misuse of office.[23] Since then he was allegedly sidelined by BJP and ignored by central leadership.[24]

For the 2019 Maharashtra assembly polls, BJP dropped Khadse's name from the candidate's list.[25] Khadse blamed internal party politics, specifically Devendra Fadnavis and Girish Mahajan, for denial of a ticket.[26][27] Instead the party offered ticket to his daughter Rohini Khadse-Khewalkar. She lost a closely contested election by 1987 votes against Shiv sena's Chandrakant Nimba Patil.[28][29]

Resignation from the BJP and joining NCP

He quit BJP in October 2020 and joined NCP.[6][30]

Controversies

Khadse was involved in controversies even before 2016 corruption charges. He first courted controversy when he advised farmers to pay their electricity bills instead of splurging money on cellphones. TV news channels and print media criticized him for wastage 10,000 lit. of water for the creation of temporary helipad in his tour of drought suffering Latur that time.[31]

Accusations of nepotism

Khadse's tendencies to forward the interests of his kin did not go down well with the rank and file of his party [BJP]. Many members harboured resentment over how he promoted his family members to important posts in Jalgaon. His daughter-in-law Raksha Khadse is an MP from Raver, while his daughter Rohini Khewalkar was made director of the district cooperative bank and wife Mandakini became the director of Mahanand, the state milk cooperative federation.[31]

Corruption charges and resignation

Khadse resigned on 3 June 2016 after allegations of impropriety surfaced against him in a land deal in Pune. Realtor Hemant Gavande leveled charges of land grabbing against him, alleging that Khadse had misused his position as the State Revenue Minister to illegally execute sales deeds for a 3-acre (1.2-hectare) industrial plot at Bhosari in Pune District in the names of his wife and son-in-law. Khadse is accused of buying land at prices much lower than market price through his influence and ministry.[32] Former Aam Aadmi Party politician and activist Anjali Damania went on hunger strike and demanded inquiry against Eknath Khadse.[33] She ended her hunger strike after then-CM Devendra Fadnavis assured her that he would do a proper investigation of the Pune land deal and other corruption accusations of Khadse.[33] She filed public interest litigation against Khadse. In retaliation, Khadse filed a case against her at Muktainagar accusing her of maligning his image by submitting false affidavits at Bombay High Court and sought her arrest.[34] Khadse accused Damania of making false and defamatory statements against him and served defamation notice.[35][36][37] In 2017, following orders of Bombay High Court, the state anti corruption bureau registered case against Khadse, his wife Manda Khadse, and his son-in-law Girish Choudhary.[38]

In May 2018, Khadse claimed a clean chit from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the Maharashtra Police, saying the ACB wasn't able to prove the allegations.[39][40]

On 30 December 2020 the Enforcement Directorate summoned him on this land deal case to interrogate and ask to provide documents.[38][32] Khadse later claimed that the land at Pune was purchased by his wife Manda Khadse and he personally had nothing to do with it.[38]

Personal life

Khadse was born in Kothadi village to Ganpat Khadse and Godavari bai Khadse in Muktainagar tehsil of Jalgaon district. His son, Nikhil, committed suicide on 1 May 2013.[41] He hails from the Leva Patil community.[8] His daughter-in-law Raksha Khadse is a member of the 18th Lok Sabha from the Raver constituency, serving her third term and currently Minister of State for Youth and Sports.[42]

Positions held

  • BJP Muktainagar taluka vice president (1980–1985)
  • Sarpanch of Kothali (1984–1987)
  • Muktainagar Panchayat samiti's member (1982–1990)
  • BJP Jalgaon district president (1991–1995)
  • Maharashtra BJP general secretary (1999–2004)
  • Member of Maharashtra legislative assembly for Muktainagar (1989–2019)
  • Minister for Higher and Technical Education (June 1995 to September 1995)
  • Minister for Finance and Planning (September 1995 to June 1997)
  • Minister for Irrigation and Command Area Development (June 1997 to October 1999)
  • Leader of Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (November 2009 to August 2014)
  • Minister of Revenue, Agriculture, State Excise of Maharashtra (October 2014 to June 2016)[43]
  • Member Of Maharashtra Legislative Council (2022-2028)
  • Ncp Party Leader - Maharashtra Legislative Council

Further reading

References

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  2. ^ "SHRI EKNATHRAO GANPATRAO KHADSE". legislativebodiesinindia.nic.in. Legislative Bodies in India. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  3. ^ Mukane, Pratik (23 October 2020). "Eknath Khadse joins NCP in presence of Sharad Pawar". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  4. ^ Phadke, Mansi (4 April 2020). "Khadse is six time MLA of Muktainagar.". The Print. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  5. ^ मरगळे, प्रविण (21 October 2020). "Eknath Khadse: एकनाथ खडसेंनी भाजपाला दिला २ ओळींचा राजीनामा; राष्ट्रवादीत मिळणार मोठी जबाबदारी" (in mr-IN). Lokmat. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  6. ^ ""Devendra Fadnavis Destroyed My Life": Eknath Khadse Quits BJP For NCP". NDTV.com. 2020-10-08. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  7. ^ Dahat, Pavan (21 October 2020). "'I Built BJP In Maharashtra': Eknath Khadse Quits To Join NCP, All Eyes On Pankaja Munde Now". HuffPost India. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
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  9. ^ Phadke, Mansi (4 April 2020). "The relegation of Maharashtra minister from chip minister aspirant to just MLA.". The Print. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  10. ^ Suryawanshi, Sudhir (5 June 2016). "Fierce and dynamic, Eknath Khadse enjoyed red beacon for 22 years". DNA India
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  12. ^ Srivastava, Ritesh K (21 October 2020). "BJP on 'Red Alert', will OBC vote bank migrate with Eknath Khadse in Maharashtra?". Zee News. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
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  19. ^ "BJP Broke Off Alliance With Sena at My Behest: Maharashtra Revenue Minister". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
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  21. ^ "Devendra Fadnavis took oath as first Chief minister of Maharashtra cabinet minister Eknath Khadse took oath.". India Today. 31 October 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  22. ^ Tare, Kiran (October 25, 2020). "Why Eknath Khadse's exit is a blot on ex-CM Fadnavis's image". India Today. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  23. ^ "Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse resigns after allegations of impropriety in land deal". Indian Express. 4 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  24. ^ "'Stop Using My Name to Settle Scores with Opponents': Social Activist Anjali Damania Warns Eknath Khadse". News18. 2020-10-22. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  25. ^ Saha, Poulomi (11 October 2019). "Maharashtra polls: Dropped from candidates lists, Eknath Khadse, Vinod Tawde feature as BJP star campaigners". India Today. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
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  28. ^ Srinavasan, Chandrashekhar (24 October 2019). "Maharashtra assembly election result : Rohini Khadse daughter of BJP leader Eknath Khdase loses in Muktainagar". NDTV. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
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