Blessed with 2,000 'daughters' and an equal number of 'sons-in-law', BJP's candidate from Solapur south assembly constituency, Subhash Deshmukh, 57, does not have to worry much about his campaign. These 4,000 'children' are actively campaigning for their Bapu, as he is affectionately known across Solapur, to ensure his victory.
A community worker and a former Member of Parliament, Deshmukh has been organising community weddings for the last seven years and has helped 2,000 girls from poor families, particularly daughters of farmers, to settle down. These girls and their husbands are now using this election as an opportunity to pay him back. From holding door to door campaigns to accompanying him on his padyatras, Deshmukh's campaign is managed more by these couples than the local BJP workers.
Interestingly, none of these couples have any political affiliation and are doing it purely for Deshmukh's sake.
Deshmukh not only organises community marriages but also provides basic amenities for the newly-weds in the form of clothes, utensils and necessary infrastructure. He also invests Rs5,000 when a baby girl is born to a newly-wed couple. The amount matures when the girl reaches 18 years of age.
Deshmukh, through his Lokmangal Group, has been conducting community marriages in November every year for girls of poor farmers in a bid to ensure that they do not get trapped in a vicious debt cycle for which they have to sell their agricultural land.
"Conducting marriage is a matter of pride for any father. I have often witnessed that majority of farmers sell their agricultural land or approach moneylenders. To break this vicious cycle, we embarked on this mission and so far have conducted marriages of 2,000 girls for seven years in a row," Deshmukh told dna.
In the coming assembly polls, Deshmukh is pitted against sitting Congress MLA Dilip Mane. In 2004, Deshmukh emerged as a star when he contested the Lok Sabha elections against Ujwala Shinde, wife of former home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and defeated her with a significant margin. However, he had temporarily quit the BJP early this year after the party denied a Lok Sabha ticket to his son Rohan Deshmukh from Osmanabad constituency.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}