In the seaside town of Alibaug which buzzes with high-end resorts and bungalows of the rich and the famous, is the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) that champions the cause of the not-so-privileged. This left-leaning party has seen three generations of the Patil family holding top positions and is now set for a member of the fourth generation to make her electoral debut. Siblings Meenakshi, Subhash and Jayant Patil, have made the PWP a well-recognised name as Meenakshi held ministerial portfolios and Jayant has been a member of the legislative council for several years. Their grandfather Narayan Patil or Nanasaheb was among the founding members of the PWP which was formed in 1948. He had led the famous Thari Satyagrah which championed the rights of landless farm labourers against the might of feudal landlords.
Their uncle, Dattatray Patil, was an MLA and has served a leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly between 1987 and 1990.
Locally known as the ‘first family’ of the PWP, the Patils have, for long, wielded considerable political and electoral influence over Alibaug, matching the popularity of the various political dynasties that control cooperatives and educational empires in the state. While the party tried to position itself as an anti-Congress, anti-right-wing force, it has joined hands with the Congress and was part of the Shiv Sena-BJP government in 1995.
Meenakshi was a member of the legislative assembly from Alibaug from 1995 and also held the position of a minister of state for ports and fisheries in Vilasrao Deshmukh’s government in 1999. Her brother Jayant has been an MLC since 2002 until he lost the elections to the upper house of the Maharashtra legislature this year. The family’s political influence has been strong despite the party not having too many legislators. Jayant has courted controversy several times; in 2015, a farmer had accused him of land grab and the anti-corruption bureau had launched a probe into his assets; he had heckled Shahrukh Khan for allegedly delaying the departure of the ferry and in 2019, was accused by a journalist for slapping him without any provocation. His brother Subhash Patil has also been an MLA from Alibaug.
Jayant Patil’s 37-year-old daughter-in-law Chitralekha made her electoral debut by filing her nomination for the assembly elections from Alibaug. She made news when she cycled to to file her nomination.
Comments