Politics:Promising
Satyajeet Tambe, Congress, Mumbai
Maharashtra Youth Congress president Satyajit Tambe is one of the prominent youth leaders of Maharashtra. At the age of 16, he joined politics. Although he was born with a political legacy, he succeeded in creating his own identity. Through the Congress, he organised a statewide agitation. In 2002, he became the state general secretary of students wing of Congress. In 2007, he started taking active interest in politics through Youth Congress. Twice he was elected as member of Zilla Parishad and raised voice over problems prevailing in the rural areas.
From 2007 to 2012, he was made the General Secretary of Youth Congress and vice president twice after 2012. In September 2018 he became the president of the Maharashtra Youth Congress. Youth Congress is currently running 'Chalo Panchayat' campaign throughout the State. Its aim is to reach 25,000 villages and 5 crore people. On the fourth anniversary of the Fadnavis government, Youth Congress organised its unique protest called ‘Nishedhasan’ under his leadership in the various parts of the State. His agitation attracted the nationwide attention. He also launched an agitation throughout the State against inflation. In order to guide the unemployed youth, he organised 'Job Fair' in Ahmednagar district. His Jai Hind Youth organisation is also popular among the youths.
Sachin Ahir, NCP, Mumbai
Sachin Ahir’s political journey began from being a labourer to being a minister. Ahir, who was a worker in the Khatau Fabrics group, became a leader of the workers on the strength of his organisational skills. He has been president of the internationally acclaimed National Mill Workers' Union for more than 22 years. He has been working for 22 years in the Maharashtra State National Workers' Union. He is successfully leading the workers in 250 factories and establishments in Maharashtra, and Gujarat. He ensured that dues worth crore of rupees is paid to the mill workers in Mumbai. He has got the leadership of workers of prominent companies like Mahindra and Mahindra and Mazgaon Dock. He is also leading the fight for the unorganised workers in Ola and Uber companies. He became president of the Nationalist Congress Party, Mumbai, for the fourth time. He was elected as NCP MLA in 1999. Three times in a row, he was elected as MLA. He helped solve the problems like fuel hike, school environment, nullah-cleaning, inflation, unemployment, etc.
During 2009 to 2013, he was the Minister of State for Housing. The mill workers of Mumbai got the housing rights. He was honoured at the hands of the President as an excellent parliamentarian for his outstanding work in the Legislature. While working as Chairman of the Bombay Housing and Reconstruction Board, he did the repair and reconstruction work of 'dangerous buildings' in Mumbai.
MLA Prashant Thakur, BJP, Panvel
MLA Prashant Thakur, Raigad’s BJP district president, is a household name in Panvel city. He has friendly relations with all the political parties. His brand of politics is unique and loved by one and all in the constituency. His father Ramsheth Thakur is an ex-MP. Prashant had a political inclination since childhood. Panvel Municipal Council became the laboratory of politics and social work for him. In 2006, he was elected as a corporator and also became the municipal council president. In 2009, he reached the Legislative Assembly on Congress ticket.
In 2014, he started an agitation against his own party for commencing the toll naka on Sion-Panvel highway in Kharghar. He contested the 2014 elections on BJP ticket and went to the Legislative Assembly for the second time. He had an important role to play in turning Panvel into the municipal corporation in Navi Mumbai. BJP won the first elections of the Panvel Municipal Corporation under Thakur in 2016. Panvel had an important role to play in the urban face of the city. He was elected as the president of CIDCO in 2018, member of the Lokayukta Committee of the Legislature, director of Janardhan Shikshan Prasarak Sangh, president of Ramsheth Thakur Samaj Vikas Mandal, vice-president of Maharashtra State Badminton Association, Panvel branch, president of All India Marathi Natya Parishad, etc. Presently he is the president of Raigad district, Navi Mumbai BJP. He took an initiative in sanctioning of three hundred-bed hospital for Panvel.
He has won Nehru Yuva Kendra's 'Best Youth Award' and also the award of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Government of India. The then Congress general secretary had selected him for his 'Talent Hunt' programme.
MLA Kapil Patil, Lokbharti, Mumbai
Kapil Patil, who inherited the legacy of his teacher parents, became a member of Legislative Council thrice consecutively when it was believed that nobody could be a legislator without political background. He has acquired the identity as a studious law maker and an aggressive MLC.
Kapil Patil is originally a social activist. He cut his political teeth in Rashtra Seva Dal, Chhatrabharati Vidyarthi Sanghatana and the socialist movement. He has journeyed from being a party activist, journalist to MLC. He is still active in all the three roles. He was active in Marathwada University's renaming movement, the implementation of the Mandal Commission, the implementation of the Muslim OBC, the Sachar Commission, the fight for survival of night schools, anti-corruption movement of Anna Hazare, etc.
In 2006, he became a teacher MLC. Teachers were called 'Shikshan Sevak' in the state. He took this word as an insult to the teachers and removed the word by bringing a private Bill in the Legislative Assembly. Patil, through a legislation, ensured that the teachers in Mumbai got paid their salary through nationalised banks on the 1st of every month. He played an instrumental role in effecting changes in the curriculum of Class X-XII, on the lines of CBSE, regularised 8000 teachers in the residential schools in the state, set up a special department for the minorities and got the government to sanction six months’ maternity leave for women employees. There was tremendous opposition to the Anti-Superstition Act. At that time, he got the law approved by suggesting an alternate name such as Eradication of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Bill. Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress also praised his performance in the legislature.
The government had sanctioned subsidised housing scheme to the MLAs in Mumbai. “There are no houses for the poor in Mumbai, so why sanction houses for public representatives, bureaucrats and judicial officers from government quota?”, he had asked after becoming the first MLC to reject the house from government quota. Though he became an MLC, he continued to write. Regardless of social issues, he writes his 'blog'. He also asks questions to the government on social media.
Sanjay Rathod, Shiv Sena, MoS Revenue, Yavatmal
From being a son of a humble farmer to being the State's revenue minister, Sanjay Rathod has completed full circle. He started his political career as a Shiv Sena activist. For the last thirty years, he has been loyal to the party. He was elected three times to State Assembly. He not only worked in his Digras constituency but also in Yavatmal district. He polled maximum votes in the 2014 elections in Vidarbha and the second place in the state. He is recognised as the leader of the masses who is easily available. When he was the guardian minister of the district, he started the 'janta darbar'. The State government implemented the same initiative all over Maharashtra. He tried to solve the problems of the people on the spot. Many health camps were organised by him. When Yavatmal district hospital requires services for the patients, he deploys Shiv Sainiks. He is also leader of Banjara community. Nearly 25 lakh Banjara brethren were present at the rally organised at Poharadevi in Washim district which is known as the Kashi of Banjaras. To preserve the culture of this community, he took up the task of constructing a museum named 'Nagara' at Poharadevi.
