OF REBELLIONS AND U-TURNS AMONG THE THORATS & TAMBES

Mumbai: On Thursday, three-time Congress MLC Sudhir Tambe decided to pull out of the upcoming Legislative Council polls in favour of his son Satyajit, who then filed his nomination as an independent candidate. While this may have shocked some people, rebellions are par for the course in the Tambe family, and that of their close relative, staunch Congressman and former state minister Balasaheb Thorat.

Sudhir Tambe is married to the sister of Balasaheb Thorat, whose father, the late Bhausaheb Thorat, was a freedom fighter and a staunch Congress leader from Ahmednagar district. Both families have been loyal to the Congress for decades

While building their political legacy in Ahmednagar, the Thorat family also set up several educational institutes, colleges, including one for engineering, sugar mills and other cooperative societies under the brand name “Amrutwahini”, to maintain their dominance over the region

However, in the 1985 state Assembly polls, the Congress nominated Shakuntala Thorat- -originally from neighbouring Pune district- -from Sangamner instead of Bhausaheb Thorat. Bhausaheb fielded his son Vijay alias Balasaheb Thorat as an independent and ensured he won, thus launching the latter’s long and successful career in politics.

In fact, Balasaheb Thorat--who later returned to the Congress- -has remained undefeated in every election he has fought from the Sangamner Assembly constituency. Sudhir Tambe’s political career also started in a similar way, when he rebelled in 2007 against the then-Congress candidate Nitin Thakur in the bypoll to the Nashik division graduates’ constituency and won.