27 Facts About Eknath Khadse

Eknath Ganpatrao Khadse was born on 2 September 1952 and is a politician and a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra state.

Eknath Khadse was a Member of Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra from Muktainagar constituency for six consecutive terms till 2019.

Eknath Khadse was a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party from 1987 until his resignation in October 2020.

Eknath Khadse is a member of Legislative Council of Maharashtra.

Eknath Khadse entered in active politics as a BJP worker in the 1980s and helped the party BJP establish its base in North Maharashtra.

Eknath Khadse was arrested at Jhansi by Uttarpradesh police and was jailed for a month.

In 1995, Eknath Khadse became a minister in Chief Minister Manohar Joshi's state cabinet.

Eknath Khadse was close to then-deputy CM and BJP leader Gopinath Munde and handled finance and irrigation portfolios between 1995 and 1999.

On 13 December 2005, Eknath Khadse was suspended for six months from Maharashtra state assembly's lower house due to making derogatory remarks against the then-speaker Babasaheb Kupekar and Deputy speaker Pramod Shende in their chambers.

Eknath Khadse served as the leader of the opposition from November 2009 to October 2014.

Eknath Khadse announced breakup of long-held Shivsena-BJP alliance before 2014 assembly election and BJP decided to contest that election alone without Shiv Sena.

Eknath Khadse assured Narendra Modi that BJP can win this election on their own.

Eknath Khadse held more than dozen portfolios during the first two years including ministries of excise, revenue, and agriculture.

Eknath Khadse blamed internal party politics, specifically Devendra Fadnavis and Girish Mahajan, for denial of a ticket.

Eknath Khadse lost a closely contested election by 1987 votes against Shiv sena's Chandrakant Nimba Patil.

Eknath Khadse quit BJP in October 2020 and joined NCP.

Eknath Khadse was involved in controversies even before 2016 corruption charges.

Eknath Khadse first courted controversy when he advised farmers to pay their electricity bills instead of splurging money on cellphones.

Eknath Khadse's daughter-in-law Raksha Khadse is an MP from Raver, while his daughter Rohini Khewalkar was made director of the district cooperative bank and wife Mandakini became the director of Mahanand, the state milk cooperative federation.

Eknath Khadse resigned on 3 June 2016 after allegations of impropriety surfaced against him in a land deal in Pune.

Realtor Hemant Gavande leveled charges of land grabbing against him, alleging that Eknath Khadse had misused his position as the State Revenue Minister to illegally execute sales deeds for a three-acre industrial plot at Bhosari in Pune District in the names of his wife and son-in-law.

Eknath Khadse is accused of buying land at prices much lower than market price through his influence and ministry.

Eknath Khadse broke her hunger strike after then-CM Devendra Fadnavis assured her that he would do a proper investigation of the Pune land deal and other corruption accusations of Khadse.

Eknath Khadse accused Damania of making false and defamatory statements against him and served defamation notice.

In May 2018, Eknath Khadse claimed a clean chit from the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Maharashtra Police, saying the ACB wasn't able to prove the allegations.

Eknath Khadse later claimed that the land at Pune was purchased by his wife Manda Eknath Khadse and he personally had nothing to do with it.

Eknath Khadse's daughter-in-law Raksha Khadse is a member of the 18th Lok Sabha from the Raver constituency, serving her third term and currently Minister of State for Youth and Sports.