Fierce and dynamic, Eknath Khadse enjoyed red beacon for 22 years

When it comes to controversy, senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse is definitely not a novice. This time, however, he has been unable to come out of it unscathed.

The 63-year-old politician's rise is political arena is nothing less than mesmerising. Starting off as a Sarpanch of a village of 1,500 – Kothali – in 1985-85, Khadse went on to hold numerous important portfolios in the state politics.

"Khadse is the only person who enjoyed the red beacon for 22 years consistently, including 15 years of being in the Opposition. In this duration, he tried to expand the BJP party network, giving power to workers and resolving their issues. He became an undisputed leader in north Maharashtra and the mass OBC leader after the demise of Gopinath Munde," said a senior BJP leader.

Khadse probably never expected that he would be asked to resign. "If I have not done anything wrong, why should I resign?" he had been arguing persistently for the last 20 days. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, BJP president Amit Shah and prime minister Narendra Modi, however, took a different view of the matter.

Talking about an incident that played a major role in Khadse's political rise, Prakash Patil, vice-president of Congress at Muktainagar, said, "Once, a bunch of youths gathered to meet MLA Pratibhatai Patil at Muktainagar guesthouse. The MLA, however, left without meeting us. We then decided to challenge her in the next election. So we jointly asked the BJP to give us a ticket. BJP leader LK Advani had also came to Muktainagar for Khadse's election campaign. There were hardly 500 people in the rally. Khadse did not take the first election lightly. He fought with full energy."

He started rallying the minority community against the 25% majority Maratha-Patil. "Another important factor was that for the first time, Muktainagar got a local candidate. So, the locals from 84 villages were enthusiastic and got him elected. After that, Khadse did not look back," said Dinesh Patil, a resident of Muktainagar.

Khadse's raw talent and daring was nurtured by senior Congress leader and ex-education minister Madhukar Rao Chaudhari, who also belonged to Khadse's community Leva Patil. "When Chaudhari was the speaker, he gave a lot of opportunity to Khadse to raise questions and expose various scams in the House. Chaudhari also taught Khadse how to use parliamentary rules and regulations to corner and expose the Opposition and rivals, making him an efficient, effective and successful Opposition leader," said Dagadu Patil, former Sarpanch of Nimkhedi in Muktainagar.

Although people were fond of speeches by the young, dynamic and fierce orator, Khadse's career saw its own share of controversies. When he was the irrigation minister in Sena-BJP regime in 1996, the Janata Dal MLA from Amalner in Jalgaon came out with a small booklet, containing various allegations of corruption against Khadse.

"That time, Khadse defended himself by publishing full-page advertisements about himself and his family. He managed to come out of it unscathed. As the list of controversies grew longer, Khadse also kept on rising against all odds," said a source.

He added that because Khadse had nurtured Fadnavis and even played a role in making him the BJP state president, he never thought the chief minister would go against him. "Politics is a different ballgame. Khadse also ditched his mentor for success. Now he has tasted his own medicine," he said.

The rivalry between Khadse and Shiv Sena MLA Suresh Jain is notorious in Jalgaon. "Khadse used all his power as the Opposition leader to open cases against Jain and ensured his arrest as well," said a source. Khadse then pitched his son Nikhil against Manish Jain, son of NCP leader Ishwarlal Jain, in the MLC elections. Instead of helping the alliance candidate, however, Suresh Jain openly supported Manish Jain. Nikhil lost the election by 36 votes.

"This was a big insult. Nikhil, Khadse's only son, shot himself one day. Since then, Khadse started pushing many of his family members in politics," said source. As a result, a dynastic politics took deep roots in Jalgaon.

Khadse's daughter-in-law Raksha is a Member of Parliament.

To get Raksha a BJP ticket, Khadse systematically cornered sitting MP Haribhau Jawale, saying Jawale would not have enough ability to fight against NCP candidate Manish Jain. Subsequently, he made his daughter Rohini the Jalgaon District Co-operative Bank chairman, and wife Mandatai, the chairman of Mahananda Dairy, while he was the animal husbandry minister.

"Khadse was a minister, then Opposition leader, then minister again, but could not bring any major project or industry to Muktainagar. Bodwad, a part of Muktainagar, receives drinking water once a week," said a resident, requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, BJP party leaders who had gathered on the Nagpur-Mumbai Highway to protest against the unceremonious sacking of Khadse, said, "We are feeling insulted. Our leader served BJP for more than 40 years. The party used him as the Opposition leader and then threw him out. This is nothing but a systematic conspiracy to end his political career. We are confused. Let's see what order our leader gives us for the further course of action."