Ganesh Naik is a great survivor literally and figuratively. Recently at an election rally, he said that ‘all his rivals are dead’. That is very true literally. Nevertheless, Naik has also shown great agility and has survived politically.
Born in the Bonkode village of Navi Mumbai on September 15, 1950 Ganesh Ramchandra Naik started off in the life as a union leader. Initially he led workers from some of the prominent factories in the TTC industrial belt. As the union grew and spread to other industrial belts across Raigad and Thane districts, he started wielding political power. The planned city of Navi Mumbai was in making which lifted him straight from the village panchayat level to the state assembly. Shiv Sena was the most popular party among the youth back then. So, he became the Shiv Sena MLA in 1990 and also became the leader of the party in the house after rebellion of 11 MLAs under the leadership of Chhagan Bhujbal.
However, his rivals within the party made him leave Shiv Sena in 1999 though he was a minister and showed a great command on the administration. He lost the assembly election. But, after a brief period when he floated his own party, he joined NCP and was inducted into the state cabinet. After sensing that he has no future in NCP, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019. However, before that he had developed a strong hold over the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), the two assembly constituencies in the city and the Lok Sabha constituency that extends from Navi Mumbai to Mira-Bhayandar. Naik family members occupied all the key posts of public representative from this region between 2000 and 2014.
Despite such a long and successful career, Naik faced controversies. He has been accused of cheating in two cases, and a woman claiming to be his live-in partner filed a more recent case of rape against him. The high court later quashed the case, and the complainant changed her statement, alleging that the case was politically motivated. But, the blot remains.
When he joined the BJP in 2019, his arch-rival Manda Mhatre had already been an MLA from the constituency that he had been being elected from. He had to leave the seat for her and he contested from his son’s constituency, Airoli. His elder son too didn’t get to contest Lok Sabha and his nephew couldn’t become Mayor of the city again. He still stayed with the BJP, but his son Sandeep, who was district BJP president, quit and is contesting from Belapur constituency as NCP(SP) candidate. Many feel that this is marks Naik’s backward journey to Sharad Pawar who had helped him stand again after being dejected by the Shiv Sena. Naik’s political journey has been marked by his ability to bounce back from setbacks.
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