Mumbai: Ranjitsinh Naik Nimbalkar has lengthy been amongst a handful of BJP property in Satara, a area dominated by political heavyweights and one the place the occasion has struggled to achieve a foothold. However a 28-year-old authorities physician’s suicide final week thrust the previous MP into controversy, with opposition events and even some within the ruling alliance questioning his alleged function in pressuring her.

Although Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis gave Nimbalkar a clear chit on Sunday, the controversy threatens BJP’s rigorously cultivated presence in NCP’s conventional bastion.

Nevertheless it was a letter, purportedly written by the physician earlier within the 12 months, that dragged Nimbalkar into the wrangle.

In it, the physician mentioned a former MP had pressured her to change medical experiences of an arrested individual. Opposition events named Nimbalkar as that former MP.

Within the letter, the physician wrote of threats from police officers and taunts about her Beed origins. Beed made headlines final 12 months following the homicide of a sarpanch and complaints about extortion from windmill energy vegetation there.

Ambadas Danve, a former MLC from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, posted excerpts from the letter on X, alleging Nimbalkar’s involvement within the threats. It mentioned the physician had advisable hospital remedy for the accused whose blood stress was excessive. However, the letter reads, two private assistants of Nimbalkar approached her and requested her to talk to the previous MP.

Danve mentioned Nimbalkar instructed the physician police have been complaining that she was not declaring the accused bodily match as a result of she was from Beed. The Shiv Sena chief additionally mentioned the accused being referred to within the case was named in an FIR  filed by a personal firm that belongs to Nimbalkar.

Questions have been raised even throughout the ruling Mahayuti alliance.

Dhananjay Munde, a former minister from the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Celebration (NCP), alleged that non-public assistants of a “former MP” have been concerned.

BJP MLA Suresh Dhas, who represents the Ashti constituency in Beed, mentioned a day earlier than Fadnavis’ clear chit for Nimbalkar that the investigation would reveal if any former MP or his assistants had exerted political stress on the physician. “If they’re discovered to be accountable, they need to be made an accused within the case,” mentioned Dhas.

Chief of Opposition and Congress’s Rahul Gandhi termed the physician’s dying “institutional homicide” in an X submit on Sunday.

“The very authority tasked with defending the general public from criminals dedicated probably the most heinous crime in opposition to this harmless lady — rape and exploitation. In line with experiences, some influential people related to the BJP additionally tried to stress her into corruption. That is probably the most despicable instance of a criminally protected ideology,” he wrote.

Fadnavis’s defence

Talking in Phaltan in an occasion organised by Nimbalkar on Sunday, CM Fadnavis was unequivocal in his assist for the previous BJP MP.

“Today, politics is being blended with all the pieces and we’ve got been seeing this totally condemnable try even on this case. With none motive, Ranjit dada and Sachin Patil’s [Phaltan MLA] identify was dragged on this incident. Maharashtra is aware of Deva Bhau. Even when I had an oz of suspicion, I might have scrapped the programme and never come right here,” he mentioned.

The chief minister added that the physician’s dying could be probed completely and people accountable could be delivered to justice.

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Additionally Learn: Girl physician’s suicide: Pankaja Munde meets kin in Beed, vows to combat for justice

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Nimbalkar, too, denied any wrongdoing and referred to as the allegations “petty politics”.

“I even have two daughters. When our identify is related to such a disgusting incident, we really feel horrible…When my thoughts is clear, I’m not petrified of anybody,” he mentioned at Sunday’s occasion.

Why BJP wants Nimbalkar

Fadnavis’s swift defence could also be rooted in political calculus.

Nimbalkar, who joined the BJP from Congress in 2019, has been essential for the occasion to ascertain its presence in Phaltan and Man in Satara district.

“Satara is a spot with too many political heavyweights and the BJP doesn’t actually have a lot of a presence there. Ranjitsinh Naik Nimbalkar is the occasion’s solely key face within the area, and with native elections developing, BJP wouldn’t need any instant upsets. That’s why Fadnavis could have rushed to defend him,” mentioned Nitin Birmal, a Pune-based political analyst. Polls to city native our bodies, gram panchayats and zila parishads are anticipated throughout the state within the subsequent few months.

Nimbalkar in 2019 delivered the NCP stronghold of Madha — a seat patriarch Sharad Pawar had contested and received previously — for BJP. However he was defeated by the Sharad Pawar-led NCP in final 12 months’s Lok Sabha election by over 1.2 lakh votes.

A storied lineage

Nimbalkar’s political weight derives partly from his household identify.

The Naik Nimbalkars are amongst Maharashtra’s oldest Maratha households. They dominated Phaltan and have been related to the Chhatrapati of Satara underneath the Maratha empire. Saibai, the primary spouse of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, belonged to the Nimbalkar dynasty.

Malojiraje Naik Nimbalkar, the final ruler of Phaltan earlier than it joined India, was a minister within the Morarji Desai cupboard within the then state of Bombay. The current-day state secretariat, Mantralaya, is believed to have been constructed when Malojiraje was the general public works improvement (PWD) minister.

Ranjitsinh is the son of Hindurao Naik Nimbalkar, who was elected as Satara MP on a Shiv Sena ticket in 1996.

Ranjitsinh grew throughout the Congress, serving because the occasion’s Satara district president, earlier than making the swap to the BJP in 2019 — a choice that proved instantly fruitful together with his 2019 victory.

However the Nimbalkar identify just isn’t united in politics.

Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, Malojiraje’s grandson and a direct descendent of the Phaltan ruler, has been Ranjitsinh’s political rival for years. Ramraje entered politics in 1991 as chairman of the municipal council and later turned an unbiased MLA in 1995. When Sharad Pawar fashioned the NCP in 1999, Ramraje joined him. He’s at the moment with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

The rivalry between the 2 branches of the household has been bitter. Although the Ajit Pawar-led NCP is a BJP ally, Ramraje didn’t marketing campaign for Ranjitsinh in final 12 months’s Lok Sabha election. There have been additionally clashes between the 2 factions within the run-up to meeting elections final 12 months.

On Saturday, because the Opposition raised questions over Ranjitsinh’s involvement within the physician’s dying, Ramraje made a calibrated assertion to reporters.

“This incident has positively defamed Phaltan. Why has it occurred? Due to who has it occurred? It could possibly be somebody exerting stress. It is going to quickly be revealed with trendy technological aids like CDRs (name knowledge data). I consider Fadnavis’s intelligence and I don’t wish to say something extra about it. I’ll communicate at an acceptable time.”

(Edited by Prerna Madan)