Tribal leader, former Maharashtra minister Madhukar Pichad passes away

Mumbai: Tribal leader and former Maharashtra minister Madhukar Pichad (84) passed away on Friday at a hospital in Nashik following a brief illness.

Pichad, who was with the BJP since 2019, was hospitalised a month ago after suffering a brain stroke, senior NCP leader and his former party colleague Chhagan Bhujbal told PTI.

"He contracted infection and was put on ventilator five-six days ago,'' Bhujbal said.

He represented Akole assembly constituency in Ahilyanagar district from 1980 to 2009 and served as a minister in multiple Congress governments till 1995. Pichad became the leader of opposition in the Assembly when the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition government came to power in Maharashtra.

He quit the Congress and joined the Nationalist Congress Party formed by Sharad Pawar in 1999. He later served as tribal development minister in the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led government.

In 2019, he and his son Vaibhav Pichad, a former MLA, switched loyalty to the BJP.

The last rites will be performed at Rajur, his native village in Ahilyanagar district, family sources said.

Sharad Pawar condoled the death in a message on X, calling Pichad his "old colleague".

"Pichad was instrumental in strengthening the position and voice of tribals," the NCP (SP) chief added.

"Lately his health was not good but we hoped that he would recover. In the early days of the Nationalist Congress Party, he had been the party's state chief," Pawar reminisced while talking to reporters later.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis condoled Pichad's death, saying that in his long political career starting from the panchayat samiti to holding ministerial positions Pichad brought transformative changes in the lives of countless people.

The late leader worked to provide educational facilities to people from economically backward classes and higher education facilities to the tribals, he said.

Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said Pichad's politics revolved around the welfare of the tribal people.

"I could see a messiah of tribal people in him," Shinde added.

Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said Pichad significantly contributed to the development of tribal people and rural Maharashtra.

His contribution as the state president of the Nationalist Congress Party will always be remembered, Ajit Pawar noted.