In a blow to the Congress party in Maharashtra, its lone Lok Sabha member, Chandrapur MP Suresh Dhanorkar, also known as ‘Balu’ Dhanorkar, passed away at Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital early on Tuesday morning, party sources said. He was 47.
Mr. Dhanorkar had been admitted to a Nagpur-based hospital last week for treatment of kidney stones. However, his condition worsened and he was moved to the National Capital Region in an air ambulance on Sunday.
He is survived by his wife Pratibha Dhanorkar, a Congress leader and MLA from the Warora-Bhadrawati Assembly seat in Chandrapur, and two sons.
‘Giant-killer’
Mr. Dhanorkar commenced his political career in the Balasaheb Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in Chandrapur district and won the Warora-Bhadrawati Assembly seat in the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly election.
He then switched to the Congress and was fielded by the party in the Chandrapur Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 general election against stalwart BJP leader Hansraj Ahir, who was then sitting MP of Chandrapur and serving his fourth term.
At a time when all of Maharashtra’s tall Congress leaders fell like dominoes before the BJP onslaught, Mr. Dhanorkar held his own and proved himself a ‘giant-killer’ by trouncing Mr. Ahir, a popular leader and former Union Minister.
Leaving a void
Tributes poured in from across the political spectrum, with Chief Minister and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde expressing “shock” at the Congress MP’s untimely death, while remarking that he had closely observed Mr. Dhanorkar’s political journey from his time as a grassroots worker in the Shiv Sena.
Congress State chief Nana Patole said that Mr. Dhanorkar’s demise would leave a void in the party, while senior Congressman Balasaheb Thorat said that the late MP’s popularity in Chandrapur was unrivalled.
Calling Mr. Dhanorkar’s passing “extremely sad”, BJP leader and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said: “I had spoken with his wife [Pratibha Dhanorkar] just yesterday. While he was in a serious condition, it was hoped he would come out of it. His death is a big blow to Maharashtra’s political and social fields.”
Grassroots connect
Maharashtra Leader of Opposition and senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar said that it was hard to believe Mr. Dhanorkar was no more. “Despite the tremendous BJP wave during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he managed to win the Chandrapur Lok Sabha seat. He had a strong grassroots connect. He was a magnanimous political leader. Sadly, he passed away at a young age,” said Mr. Pawar, adding that his death had left “a big void” in the State’s political scene.
Mr. Dhanorkar’s passing, while being a setback for his party in the Vidarbha region, is a double tragedy for his family as it comes days after his father Narayan Dhanorkar’s death last Saturday, just a day before the late MP was moved to Delhi for treatment.
Party sources said that Mr. Dhanorkar’s mortal remains would be brought to Warora-Bhadrawati by a special aircraft on Tuesday. The last rites are to take place on Wednesday, May 31 in Warora in Chandrapur.
