Know Your Turncoats, Part 13: In Maharashtra’s 7, Ajit loyalist who joined Pawar Sr, MP with Rs 105 cr

Of the 50 turncoats in phase four of the Lok Sabha polls, a total of seven are contesting in Maharashtra – a state that’s been a citadel of defectors with splits in prominent regional parties NCP and the Shiv Sena. 

Of these seven, four are in the NDA, including three in the Shiv Sena Shinde faction and one in Ajit Pawar’s NCP.  In the INDIA bloc, the NCP Sharad Pawar has fielded one turncoat while Shiv Sena UBT has fielded two.  

The two factions of Shiv Sena are in direct contest in at least 13 seats spread over five phases, and the NCP’s two camps are directly fighting each other in two constituencies. These factions are aligned into two camps – with the Shiv Sena Shinde faction, the Ajit Pawar camp and the BJP together as Mahayuti, and the Maha Vikas Aghadi which includes Sharad Pawar’s NCP, Shiv Sena Uddhav Bal Thackeray faction and the Congress.    

Let’s take a look at their political trajectory.   

Sandipanrao Bhumre: Employment minister, corruption charges 

Sandipanrao Bhumre is the Shiv Sena Shinde faction’s candidate from Aurangabad in Maharashtra. The 62-year-old five-time MLA and former state minister began his political career with Shiv Sena in 1995. He remained with the party for 27 years, till before siding with rebel leader Eknath Shinde in 2022.  

Bhumre, who was allegedly heard “abusing and intimidating” a man in a viral clip last year, is the minister of employment guarantee and minority under the Shinde government. He is also the guardian minister of Aurangabad, an erstwhile Shiv Sena bastion which its 2019 candidate Chandan Khaire lost to AIMIM’s Imtiaz Jaleel. Now, Bhumre is set to contest both Jaleel and Khaire for the seat.  

The minister has studied only till class 11 and has three pending criminal cases against him. These include charges of assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from doing their duty, fraud and forgery. One of the cases has been lodged under the Prevention of Corruption Act, and another under the Epidemic Act. He was also convicted in a case of criminal force against a public servant in 2016. 

As per his affidavit, Bhumre earned Rs 59.67 lakh in the last fiscal through agriculture and rent income, while his wife, who owns a liquor business, earned Rs 14.86 lakh in FY23 compared to no income in FY21. The couple’s total assets stand at Rs 10.29 crore as of April 2024, with the politician’s surging by 71 percent in the past decade.   

Turncoats hot seat in Maval, MP with Rs 105 cr vs rights activist  

It is a turncoats battle in Maval, where Shiv Sena Shinde faction’s Shrirang Barne is set to contest Shiv Sena UBT’s Sanjog Waghere Patil, who joined the Uddhav Thackeray party after quitting Ajit Pawar’s NCP in December last year.     

The 60-year-old Barne of the Shinde camp began his political career as a corporator in 1997. He was with the Congress till weeks ahead of the 2014 polls, when he switched to the Shiv Sena and secured his first Lok Sabha victory. In the 2019 polls, Barne defeated now-ally Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar in Maval. He is contesting the polls from the constituency for the third time. He also has three pending criminal cases, one involving false declarations, and two on charges of taking away, or attempting to take away, ballot paper from a polling station.    

The 10th failed politician is also a businessman, and owns a brick factory and a real estate company. He has assets worth over Rs 105.56 crore, up from Rs 66 crore in 2014. At present, his assets include land and properties worth Rs 90 crore. 

 Barne is locking horns with Waghere, a 59-year-old prominent advocate of labour rights in the region. In the lead up to the polls, the politician belonging to the Waghere community – known as “gaon-wallas”, or sons of the soil, and popular in Pimpri-Chinchwad and Maval – has been meeting trade union leaders and members of the MVA alliance to garner support.

On quitting the Ajit faction, he said the NDA government’s “wrong decisions” is the reason for his switch. But Waghere has traded allegiances more than once.

The three-time corporator and former mayor of Pimpri-Chinchwad was with the BJP in 2018. He defected to the NCP and became its district president before eventually joining the Ajit Pawar faction. The local stalwart remained lowkey for months and jumped ship again to the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena last December. He has three pending criminal cases, all involving protests including blocking of railway tracks.  

It is the first Lok Sabha polls for the leader who has studied till class 10. As per his affidavit, he has total assets of over Rs 11 crore as of April 2024. 

In the high-pitched Maval battle, both the alliances have put the weight of star campaigners behind the two contestants. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar have held campaigns for Barne, while the INDIA bloc leaders, including Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, have joined Waghere’s pitch for votes.    

In Shirdi, Lokhande ‘like Mr India’ vs frequent flipper Wakchaure

Sadashiv Lokhande is the Shiv Sena Shinde faction’s candidate from Shirdi. The 61-year-old three-time BJP MLA and incumbent Shiv Sena Shirdi MP went with Eknath Shinde in 2022. 

He remained with the BJP for nearly two decades, active in the politics of Karjat Jamkhed assembly constituency. On joining the undivided Shiv Sena in 2014, he successfully fought his first Lok Sabha election from Shirdi. He won the 2019 polls as well. However, locals reportedly call him “Mr India” because of his absence in the constituency.   

As per his affidavit, he is an agriculturist and has no criminal cases. His assets stand at Rs 6.70 crore, while his wife, who runs agri-related businesses, has total assets worth Rs 14.61 crore.    

Lokhande is pitted against Bhausaheb Rajaram Wakchaure of Shiv Sena UBT, who successfully contested from Shirdi in 2009 with a Shiv Sena ticket. The 69-year-old retired government official then defeated stalwart Ramdas Athawale. But he jumped ship to Congress on being denied a ticket and unsuccessfully contested the 2014 polls. Reports said the “perception of being a turncoat” cost him heavily. In the 2019 elections, he fought unsuccessfully again as an independent and joined the UBT in August last year.        

As per his affidavit, he is a law graduate and has total assets worth Rs 8 crore, slightly higher than his assets amounting to Rs 7.35 crore in 2009.    

Shivajirao Adhalrao: Cases over ‘carrying arms’, ‘mobbing poll booth’  

Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil is the NCP Ajit Pawar faction’s candidate from Shirur. The 68-year-old three-time MP switched from the Shiv Sena Shinde faction weeks ahead of the polls. He subsequently said that the decision “to fight the election on NCP’s symbol was a decision taken by all three party leaders” of the Mahayuti alliance. 

The politician owns a defence sector company and drew in Rs 80 lakh income in the last fiscal year. His opponent and Shirur’s sitting MP Sharad Pawar camp’s Dr Amol Kolhe has claimed conflict of interest in the questions Patil asked in the parliament during his term. He has denied the claims.     

Patil has total assets worth more than Rs 27 crore, while his wife owns assets amounting to Rs 11.47 crore – up from cumulative assets worth Rs 12 crore in 2014. He has five pending criminal cases, including those related to carrying arms and mobbing a polling booth area. Till 2019, he was also accused of “promoting enmity” between groups, criminal intimidation, dacoity, and “attempt to murder” in separate cases.

Bajrang Sonawane: Dairy business, Ajit Pawar ‘close-aide’

Bajrang Sonawane is the NCP Sharad Pawar faction’s candidate from Beed. The 53-year-old was known to be a close aide of Ajit Pawar and sided with him after the split in the NCP. He returned to the Sharad Pawar camp a month before the general elections.   

Sonawane, who has served as the NCP Beed zila parishad and district president, had lost the seat to the BJP stalwart late Goninath Munde’s daughter Pritam Munde in the 2019 polls. This time, he is contesting against Pritam’s sister Pankaja Munde.   

Sonawane who has been under constant attack from Ajit Pawar. The junior Pawar recently mocked him saying, “Do paise hoti aale ki masti yete (When two money comes in hand, it's fun)” and “Bajrang chati fadlayawar marun jashil (Bajrang will die if he tears open his chest)”. While Sonawane hasn’t made any statement against Pawar, his social media account is taken over by Sharad Pawar camp’s new logo and pictures of meetings in Beed.   

On joining the Sharad Pawar camp, he said, “Many party workers told me they feel suffocated on the other side [Ajit Pawar faction]. So, I have come here on behalf of my supporters...I have not come here with any expectations. Whatever responsibility Pawar Saheb gives me, I will accept it without any hesitation.”

Sonawane has no pending cases. He has a dairy business and total assets worth Rs 11.68 crore against over Rs 4 crore in 2019. His wife is a professor and has assets worth over Rs 3 crore.      

Besides those in LS fray, at least 14 big defectors faced ED whip 

At least 14 stalwarts of Maharashtra politics who switched to the Mahayuti camp over the last five years have pending Enforcement Directorate cases against them. 

Ajit Pawar who engineered the NCP split was under the ED scrutiny in a money laundering case before the split. Similarly, Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dhananjay Munde and Hasan Mushrif, who sided with Ajit; Pratap Sarnaik, Bhavana Gawali, and Yamini and Yashwant Jadhav, who went with Shinde, were all under the ED radar.      

In addition, Ashok Chavan, who switched from the Congress to the BJP in February this year; Baba Siddiqui, who also jumped from the Congress to the Ajit Pawar camp in February; Ravindra Waikar who joined the Shinde camp in March; Eknath Khadse and Narayan Rane who joined the BJP in April this year and October 2019, respectively; all had ED cases against them. 

At least nine of them are linked to charges under the PMLA Act. Waikar, who is one of those booked in a PMLA case came under fire as he recently said he had “two options, switch political parties or go to jail…When my wife's name was also included (in this case), I had no choice left”. He later clarified that Uddhav Thackeray “did not stand by me” but Shinde “listened to me”

Aditi Sunil Tatkare, who sided with Ajit Pawar, did not have any pending cases. However, her father Sunil Tatkare has been facing corruption charges. Meanwhile, there is no evidence of a case against Eknath Shinde as well, but UBT leader Aaditya Thakeray has claimed that “cash was found” at his residence and he “feared arrest” before the 2022 rebellion.     

About as many in the MVA camp are under the central agencies’ scanner, including Shiv Sena UBT’s Sanjay Raut, Varsha Raut, Anil Parab, Anand Rao Adsul and Kishori Pednekar; and NCP Sharad Pawar camp’s Rohit Pawar, Anil Deshmukh, Sharad Pawar, Anil Parab, Nawab Malik, Diliprao Deshmukh, Isharlal Jain, Jayant Patil and Rajendra Shingane.