Former minister and veteran Congress leader Eknath Gaikwad, who had been under treatment for COVID-19 for two weeks, passed away in Mumbai on Wednesday. He was 81. Gaikwad was a two-term Lok Sabha member and the Mumbai Congress president from 2017 to 2020.
A Dalit leader from Mumbai’s Dharavi, Gaikwad maintained his clout in one of the largest slums in Asia for over three decades. His daughter Varsha Gaikwad is presently the School Education Minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and represents the Dharavi Assembly constituency.
He became an MLA for the first time from Dharavi in 1985 and continued his winning streak till 2004 when he contested the Lok Sabh election against former Chief Minister Manohar Joshi of the Shiv Sena, who was the Lok Sabha speaker in the then NDA government.
Gaikwad emerged as a giant killer by defeating Mr. Joshi and managed to retain the seat even in 2009. He lost to young Sena leader Rahul Shewale in 2014 and faced yet another defeat in 2019.
Gaikwad was a Minister of State in the Mahrashtra government from 1999 to 2004 and handled portfolios such as Public Health, Medical Education, Social Justice, Labour, Higher and Technical Education.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari said that in his demise, Mumbai had lost a leader of masses.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that Maharashtra had lost a guide of two generations in the social and political spheres.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said that Gaikwad was a committed Congress worker. “He handled the Mumbai Congress at the time of extreme difficulties. His loss is immeasurable,” he said.
