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By:

Rajendra Joshi

3 December 2024 at 9:20:26 am

Rajesh Kshirsagar walks into a political trap

The Shiv Sena MLA has chosen confrontation over the Shaktipeeth Expressway risking political isolation Kolhapur: Shiv Sena MLA Rajesh Kshirsagar’s aggressive support to the proposed Shaktipeeth Expressway has brought him face-to-face with former MP Raju Shetti. But the political fallout has not stopped there. In quick succession, he has taken on Congress leader Satej Patil, questioned the position of fellow Mahayuti legislator Chandradip Narake and criticised his own party colleague, Public...

Rajesh Kshirsagar walks into a political trap

The Shiv Sena MLA has chosen confrontation over the Shaktipeeth Expressway risking political isolation Kolhapur: Shiv Sena MLA Rajesh Kshirsagar’s aggressive support to the proposed Shaktipeeth Expressway has brought him face-to-face with former MP Raju Shetti. But the political fallout has not stopped there. In quick succession, he has taken on Congress leader Satej Patil, questioned the position of fellow Mahayuti legislator Chandradip Narake and criticised his own party colleague, Public Health Minister and Kolhapur Guardian Minister Prakash Abitkar. That is a lot of political fronts for one MLA to manage simultaneously. The immediate question, therefore, is not whether Kshirsagar has the courage to fight. He clearly does. The more important question is whether he has calculated the political cost of fighting everyone at once. The Shaktipeeth Expressway has become one of the most contentious political issues in Kolhapur district. Raju Shetti has turned the proposed acquisition of agricultural land into a farmers’ rights issue and has built a sustained campaign around it. His politics has always thrived on confrontation. His rise from the sugarcane farmers’ movement to the Assembly and then the Lok Sabha was built on his ability to convert farmers’ grievances into political mobilisation. Kshirsagar has now chosen to meet that politics head-on. His controversial warning against Shetti, in response to the latter’s aggressive rhetoric on land acquisition, transformed a policy disagreement into a personal political duel. Supporters of both sides have since taken the confrontation to the streets. This is precisely where political calculation becomes important. Supporting a flagship project backed by the Chief Minister can certainly send a message to the leadership in Mumbai. Kshirsagar is willing to stand by the government when the going gets difficult. But the same position can create political liabilities at home, particularly when the project affects constituencies where local MLAs are under pressure from farmers. Different Question Kshirsagar’s decision to attack Satej Patil raises a different question. Patil remains one of the most influential political figures in Kolhapur. Suggesting that he may struggle to win the next Assembly election is not routine political criticism. It is an open challenge. That challenge may energise Kshirsagar’s supporters. It may also consolidate his position among those within the ruling establishment who see Patil as a principal political adversary. But there is a danger in confusing political visibility with political strength. Every additional opponent creates another front that has to be managed during an election. And Kshirsagar has already opened several. The most politically revealing part of Kshirsagar’s criticism of Chandradip Narake and Prakash Abitkar. Narake represents a constituency through which the Shaktipeeth project passes. His opposition, therefore, has an obvious electoral logic: he has to respond to the concerns of his voters. Kshirsagar’s criticism of Narake puts him in a difficult position. He is effectively asking another ruling-party MLA to subordinate constituency politics to the government’s larger project. Then came the attack on Abitkar. To publicly accuse the party’s Kolhapur Guardian Minister of failing to strengthen the organisation amounts to washing the party’s dirty linen in public. Ministerial Ambition There is another possible explanation for Kshirsagar’s increasingly combative posture: the unresolved question of ministerial ambition. A three-time MLA would naturally expect that electoral experience and political seniority might eventually translate into a Cabinet berth. Instead, when the opportunity came, Eknath Shinde chose Prakash Abitkar and gave him an important Cabinet portfolio. Kshirsagar was left outside the ministry. His present position on the State Planning Board gives him a role, but it is not the same political currency as a Cabinet berth. It would be simplistic to suggest that every recent statement is merely an expression of that disappointment. But it would be equally naïve to ignore the possibility that political frustration has influenced his increasingly assertive posture. The Shaktipeeth issue may simply have provided the trigger. Kshirsagar should also be looking closely at the arithmetic of Kolhapur North. The constituency has a history of surprising political outcomes. Its old-city peth culture is blunt, politically conscious and capable of producing results that defy conventional calculations. The last Assembly election demonstrated this dramatically. Madhurimaraje Chhatrapati’s withdrawal as the Congress candidate left the Opposition scrambling just weeks before polling. Satej Patil then backed municipal corporator Rajesh Latkar, who entered the contest with barely 15 days to campaign. Yet Latkar secured nearly 81,000 votes. Kshirsagar won by around 23,000 votes, but the number that should concern his camp is not merely his winning margin.

A New Shooting Prodigy

Esha Singh’s dominance in Munich announces the arrival of a new kind of Indian shooting champion.

Perhaps because of the nature of her sport, shooter Esha Singh announced her brilliance quietly, almost stealthily. Earlier this week, the 21-year-old Indian shooter stood amid one of the strongest pistol fields in Munich, Germany to snare a gold in the women’s 25-metre pistol event at the ISSF World Cup with a world-record score of 43.


Munich is regarded as one of the toughest arenas in international shooting where the margins are microscopic and the pressure is relentless. Yet Esha shot as though she was insulated from both.


She opened the final with three flawless series, hitting 15 targets out of 15 and immediately forcing the rest of the field into pursuit mode. By the time the competition reached its closing stages, the contest was about how far ahead the Indian prodigy would finish.


Such was Esha’s dominance that Olympic champion Yang Ji-in of South Korea faded to fifth while Germany’s Doreen Vennekamp, shooting before a home crowd and carrying the pedigree of a former world champion, finished five hits behind. The previous world record, held by Kim Ye-ji was left in the shade by Esha’s new record.


But records do not fully explain what made her performance remarkable. From the opening series, Esha shot with an almost eerie composure.


Even her rare mistakes felt temporary. When she missed her first shot in the fourth series, there was no visible panic or collapse in rhythm. She responded with the kind of emotional neutrality that elite athletes spend entire careers trying to cultivate. Under elimination pressure in the sixth and eighth rounds, she fired perfect scores again.


There was something revealing in what Esha said afterward. She admitted that she had not even realized she had broken the world record until after the event ended.


That focused attitude has defined much of her rise. Born in Hyderabad in 2005, Esha did not initially seem destined for shooting. As a child, she moved through sports casually after trying her had at badminton and tennis before a visit to the shooting range at Gachibowli Stadium altered the trajectory of her life. Her father, a former rally driver, recognized both her fascination and discipline quickly enough to build a paper shooting range at home so she could train obsessively.


India’s shooting ecosystem had seen prodigies before, but Esha’s emergence was startling even by those standards. At 13, she defeated established names such as Manu Bhaker and Heena Sidhu to become the youngest national champion in the 10 m air pistol event. The victory announced her talent, but perhaps more importantly, it hinted at something psychological. While young athletes are often intimidated by reputations long before they are defeated by skill, Esha appeared immune to this phenomenon.


At the 2022 Asian Games, she collected four medals, confirming her place within India’s increasingly formidable shooting pipeline. Later came a junior world title in the 25-metre pistol event and qualification for the Paris Olympics.


Yet it would be simplistic to view Esha merely as the latest product of India’s shooting revolution. India has already produced icons in the discipline in form of Manu Bhaker’s fearless confidence, Heena Sidhu’s precision, Rahi Sarnobat’s resilience transformed the country into a serious shooting nation. But Esha represents a slightly different evolution of the Indian shooter, one who is technically polished, emotionally self-contained and unusually indifferent to external noise.


That emotional self-containment was visible even in the way she described pressure after the Munich final.


Esha’s victory carried an additional layer of redemption. During the previous Munich World Cup cycle, she had failed to qualify for the finals despite posting a respectable score. This year, she arrived determined not merely to compete but to conquer a venue that had once rejected her.


The setting made the achievement larger. Munich occupies a special place in world shooting because of the density of elite competition it attracts. “Even getting into the top eight is very tight,” Esha observed. For many shooters, surviving qualification there already feels like an accomplishment.


But Esha triumphed effortlessly, and with a kind of understated Indianness.


Her gold medal in Munich has secured India’s first individual shooting medal of the ISSF World Cup season and earned her qualification for the season-ending World Cup Finals in Rome later this year. The ISSF already regards her as one of the world’s brightest young talents.


Esha speaks softly and carries little visible theatricality. But behind that calm exterior exists an athlete capable of dismantling Olympic champions under suffocating pressure.

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