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Maharashtra's longest-serving MLA 'Abasaheb' Ganpatrao Deshmukh hangs up boots

Deshmukh will now be replaced by Bhausaheb Rupnar as the PWP's nominee from the seat.

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Ganpatrao Deshmukh being felicitated with Lifetime Achievement award
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After the elections, when the Maharashtra state legislative assembly convenes for a fresh term, many will miss a familiar white-haired, nonagenarian front-bencher in the house.

Ganpatrao Deshmukh, the 93-year old legislator of the Left-oriented Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), has announced his retirement from electoral politics. 'Abasaheb,' as he is reverentially called, has been a member of all assemblies since 1962 to 2014, barring one term in 1995, when he lost by a slender margin of less than 200 votes, from his constituency of Sangola in Solapur district.

Deshmukh will now be replaced by Bhausaheb Rupnar as the PWP's nominee from the seat. "I am 93-years-old. My eyesight and hearing have been affected, which would have an impact on my ability to do the work expected of an opposition legislator," explained Deshmukh, adding that however, he would not quit social life.

Known for going beyond traditional Left politics of protests to create institutions like co-operative spinning mills and bringing water to the parched region from sources as far as over 150 km away, Deshmukh attributed his nearly unbroken stint to these developmental activities.

"This is the result of the love and blessings of my voters and workers and my constant outreach to them," said Deshmukh. "I have been part of agitations and protests. But to win elections, one needs to link this with constructive developmental work. I worked on government schemes like employment guarantee, and horticulture (drought-prone Sangola is now famed for its pomegranates)," he added.

In 1984, Deshmukh was instrumental in the creation of a co-operative spinning mill for farmers, which has 42,000 spindles, and followed it up with one for women—it has women as directors and staff—with 25,000 spindles.

"The area is not feasible for co-operative sugar mills due to lack of water (a must for cultivating sugarcane). However, we erected spinning mills even if the region has no cotton cultivation," said Deshmukh. The PWP veteran is also credited for getting irrigation water from schemes like Mhaisal and Tembhu, which is around 160km away.

Deshmukh credited his initiation in politics to freedom fighter and PWP leader Tulshidas Jadhav. Later, as a student pursuing his BA and LLB in Pune, he came in the proximity of veterans like Shankarrao More and Keshavrao Jedhe, who were veterans of the Bramhanetar (non-Brahmin) movement.

In 1962, Deshmukh, then around 35 years old, defeated Keshavrao Raut of the Congress, to enter the legislature. In 1972, in the backdrop of India-Pakistan war, he was defeated by Bapusaheb Salunkhe Patil, by around 1,600 votes. However, after Salunkhe Patil's death, Deshmukh was re-elected in the 1974 by-poll.

In 1995, Deshmukh was again defeated by Shahajibapu Patil of the Congress by a slender 192 vote margin but staged a comeback in 1999. Despite his long legislative stint, he has been a minister only twice, in 1978 and 1999.

Though the PWP, which was born out of the Bramhanetar movement, and was once the principal opposition in Maharashtra, saw steady attrition into the ranks of the then mighty Congress, Deshmukh remained with the party.

Today, the PWP has just a few pockets of support in areas like Raigad and Sangola.

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