A committed party worker, Raosaheb Danve is believed to have offered to quit his ministerial berth at the Centre to lead the Maharashtra BJP when the post of the state president fell vacant in 2014 after Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the chief minister. A Maratha leader of the BJP, he’s credited with building the party rank and file in Jalna, the region which nurtured his political career. A school passout, Danve started his work in public life as a village sarpanch and then rose to greater heights, becoming a two term-MLA and minister and a five-term Member of Parliament and a minister of state at the Union Government. He held the portfolio for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. Within the party, Danve is known for his grassroots connect with the party cadre and strove to help the BJP spread its wings. For a committed party worker of the BJP, his daughter’s decision to join the Shiv Sena may have come as a surprise. Danve’s daughter Sanjana Jadhav is contesting the upcoming assembly elections as a member of the Shiv Sena from Kannad in Chhatrapti Sambhajinagar. What’s interesting is that she is taking on her estranged husband Harshvardhan, a former MLA from that seat.
Danve’s son Santosh entered the Maharashtra legislative assembly in 2014 and was, at that time, the youngest MLA in the House at the age of 27 years. He represents the Bhokardan constituency.
Besides his son and daughter, there’s another family member in the fray and that is Danve’s brother Bhaskarrao who rebelled and filed his nomination as an independent from Jalna after the BJP chose another candidate.
Danve lost the Lok Sabha elections this year facing a dual challenge of anti-incumbency and the ire of the Maratha community which is believed to have directed its anger towards the BJP for not moving ahead on the issue of reservations for the Marathas to be included within the OBC category. Jalna, which Danve represents, is the epicentre of Manoj Jarange Patil’s protests which he began from Anatarvali-Saraati. Despite being a Maratha leader, Danve lost. The former MP is now a member of a committee formed by the BJP to oversee the assembly elections.
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