OFF THE RECORD review on some of todays headlines….
1. Rajendra Gavit, candidate for the BJP for Palghar.
I have known Rajendra Gavit in capacity as a Minister of State in the last Government for tribal Development & I also remember how then (congress) Chief Minister use to pull him for his lack of zest for work and sometimes for no work at all, regularly. Basically, he was only a Minister who in spite of having a very decent staff (his ex-PS is now a IAS officer & Collector now) couldn’t just perform. All he did in his entire tenure as a Minister, was to file complains and RTI’s with the CM against his Cabinet Minister Babanrao Pachpute, and later Madhukar Pichad. Both the cabinet ministers never paid any heed to this non-performing Minister, but they also made sure none of the files were sent to him by the department. So the RTI’s and complain letters were to take a part of the pie. Tribal Department meant money then and today also. All Minister’s (currently equally corrupt Savra & his team) have just milked this one department meant for the most needy one’s. There was always a tug-of-war between PS of Pachpute (Rajendra Muthe) & PS of Gavit (now Collector). The war was over % . If Pachpute took 10% of the tender, Gavit use to file the complain or RTI and at the end like a bigger was handed over 2 or 3%. Hence my brains rattle when knowing all, CM Devendra Fadnavis asked this newly import to represent Loksabha seat of Palghar. He couldn’t speak chaste Marathi, if he gets chosen, God help the constituency & Delhi wala’s… One he never speaks, if he does no one understands….But Shivsena also by giving the keen of Wanga have equally disappointed us. Agreed, the seat needs a tribal, but aren’t there any literate, fire in the belly type of candidates in this constituency with some experience?
2. Niranjan Davkhare joins BJP.
Reason given by the young & dynamic MLC to quit the NCP, was his family’s love-hate relationship with none other than current MLA from the NCP Jitendra Ahwad. We all know how inter-party relations never worked in Thane. Right from the days of Anand Dighe who never had any love for Ganesh Naik or even Vasant Davkhare (then in SS) to current animosity between Eknath Shinde & Pratap Sarnaik, this one between the Davkhare’s and Ahwad is the one that was on the streets. In this animosity, agents, money hoarders & land sharks like Kapil Patil, Dashrath Patil, Ravindra Chavan became big all of a sudden and started to dictate their own terms to the government & corporation. Basically these all, except few here & there, are all Shivsainiks, the most dominant party in Thane. Niranjan, who quit the MLC, I think couldn’t take up the fight any more with Ahwad. He seemed to put his armour down in front of Ahwad, which am sure the senior Davkhare would not have been happy if he lived to see this day. Whosoever it is, whichever party they represented, I know Vasant Davhkare could solve anyone’s and everyone’s problem in a fraction of second,a dn believe me it all came to him. He was a Sharad Pawar loyal all his life but equally enjoyed “love” from the late Balasaheb Thackrey. Nirajan, has certainly left the fight and joined BJP who any which ways were tired of the non-performing current MLA Sanjay Kelkar (non-performing in the sense cannot stand against the mights I mentioned above) & “over performance” of Kapil patil & Ravindra Chavan.
Vikrant Joshi
