Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 | Out of Maha Yuti, Mahadev Jankar faces acid test as his Rashtriya Samaj Paksha goes to polls alone

Mumbai: Mahadev Jankar is a maverick in many ways. Generally dressed in his trade-mark yellow half-shirt, the engineer-turned-politician, a bachelor, now faces a tough task to expand the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP).

The 55-year-old Jankar hails from the Dhangar community, a big population group after the Marathas.

Jankar, who was one of the smaller constituents of the Maha Yuti comprising BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP has gone out of the ruling alliance.

Besides, he also preferred to stay away from the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi.

RSP would field candidates at its own strength, however, still there is a lot of time.

Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, he hobnobbed with the MVA and was in negotiations with NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar, however, made a U-turn and contested from Maya Yuti. NCP gave the Parbhani seat from its quota to him, however, he lost to Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Jadhav, a popular leader.

In Maha Yuti, there are other Dhangar leaders also - and among them is Gopichand Padalkar, an MLC, who is considered close to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Jankar is a mass leader in his own right and has tremendous grass-roots connect across the state.

Hailing from the Dhangar community, Jankar was born in a poor peasant-shepherd family in a small village at Palsawade in Maan in Satara district and completed his degree In Electrical Engineering with first class from Walchand College of Engineering in Sangli.

Jankar started his political career by joining BSP under the leadership of Kanshi Ram. Then he became the chief of Yashwant Sena, a cultural organisation. In 2003, he founded the political party RSP. In 2009, he contested the Madha seat and was in third position behind NCP founder Sharad Pawar and BJP’s Subhash Deshmukh. In 2014, he contested the Baramati seat against Supriya Sule and lost. When the Fadnavis-led BJP-Shiv Sena dispensation came to power, he was made an MLC and appointed the Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries Department. He was also upset that he was not given another term as an MLC.

The Dhangar community - traditional nomadic shepherds - who get 3.5% reservation in education and jobs under NT (C) category demand that they be placed under STs, which has a 7 per cent quota.

The Dhangar community leaders claim ‘Dhangar’ and ‘Dhangad’ are same and a "typographical error” has deprived them in Maharashtra to get the ST benefits unlike other states.

The ST community is opposed to the idea as it will dilute their quota.

The Dhangars account for 9-10 per cent of the state's population. After the Marathas, Dhangars are the biggest population group.