For the residents of Kannad, a small city positioned 330 km east of Mumbai, the story of the Jadhav household serves as a hanging instance of the deepening political polarisation in Maharashtra, the place even the closest private ties are usually not proof against an ideological divide.
The constituency has grow to be a battleground for an uncommon political rivalry. Harshvardhan Jadhav, a former two-term MLA identified for his frequent get together switches, is contesting as an Impartial, whereas his spouse Sanjana Jadhav, daughter of senior BJP chief and former Union minister Raosaheb Danve, has chosen to run as a Shiv Sena candidate. The conflict between them will see a seasoned political participant tackle a “rising star” backed by the ruling Mahayuti alliance.
The Jadhav household hails from influential political households of Aurangabad and the neighbouring Jalna district. Harshvardhan Jadhav, 47, is the son of the late Raibhan Jadhav, a former Congress MLA from Kannad. His personal political journey, nevertheless, has been removed from being typical, marked by quite a few twists and turns. After an unsuccessful first try within the 2004 Meeting elections as an Impartial, he made a dramatic comeback in 2009, successful the Kannad seat on a Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) ticket.
Harshvardhan got here into the highlight in January 2011, following an notorious incident in Aurangabad, the place he allegedly tried to ram his automobile into the convoy of then-chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. The police filed a case accusing him of breaking via a safety cordon and trying to assault officers. He was arrested and a viral video later surfaced exhibiting him bruised and mendacity on his abdomen, alleging police brutality.
This incident was a turning level in Harshvardhan’s profession. Disillusioned with the MNS management, particularly Raj Thackeray’s failure to again him throughout the disaster, Jadhav give up the get together in 2013. He later contested the 2014 elections on a Shiv Sena ticket and received, however his alliance with the Sena proved short-lived. In 2018, he resigned as an MLA in protest towards the federal government’s dealing with of the Maratha reservation agitation, additional cementing his picture as a “maverick chief”.
Harshvardhan’s unstable politics made his get together leaders cautious of him. But, his affect couldn’t be underestimated. Within the 2019 Aurangabad Lok Sabha elections, he performed an important position in making certain the defeat of Sena candidate Chandrakant Khaire. Working as an Impartial, he garnered 2.83 lakh votes, which in the end led to Khaire’s loss by simply 4,492 votes to the AIMIM’s Imtiaz Jaleel.
Harshvardhan’s tumultuous political innings intersected together with his private life, resulting in a fallout together with his spouse. Recognized for brazenly discussing his personal wrestle with psychological well being, he has confronted severe allegations lately, together with an assault on a household in Pune and accusations of bodily violence from a feminine acquaintance.
In his affidavit for the 2024 Meeting elections, Harshvardhan disclosed that he has been “separated since 2019 however not but divorced”. His spouse, however, nonetheless lists herself as married in her affidavit.
Sanjana additionally comes from a political household. She is the daughter of former BJP Maharashtra chief Raosaheb Danve and a member of the Aurangabad Zilla Parishad. Although initially aligned with the BJP, Sanjana shifted to the Shiv Sena final month and managed to get a nomination. The get together swap was necessitated because the undivided Sena had received the seat in 2019 and Shiv Sena chief and CM Eknath Shinde was unwilling to relinquish his declare on the seat. On this election, she faces a further problem from sitting MLA Udaysingh Rajput, who remained loyal to Uddhav Thackeray following the Shiv Sena’s cut up in 2022.
Harshvardhan’s choice to re-enter politics by contesting towards his spouse has raised eyebrows, particularly on condition that he had introduced in 2020 that he was stepping away from politics. “My successor in politics can be my spouse… Each family has its variations, however I’m firmly behind Sanjana,” he had stated on the time, endorsing her as his political successor.
Now, 4 years later, Harshvardhan is contesting from the seat himself. Some locals declare that the Jadhav household’s ballot bids from the rival camps could also be a part of their “calculated technique” to make sure that no less than one in all them secures a win, with Harshvardhan slicing into Udaysingh’s votes to learn Sanjana.
For his half, Harshvardhan is blaming the BJP for allegedly orchestrating the rift inside his household for political achieve. “By making a cut up within the household, one political get together has given her a ticket. Raosaheb Danve is behind this. They’ve torn my home aside and made my spouse run towards me. Folks spend festivals with their households, however this get together has pressured me to rejoice Diwali away from my family members due to its politics,” he alleged.
