The disqualification of former minister Sunil Kedar as an MLA following his conviction in the Rs 125-crore bank scam case is a major setback to the Congress’s image, especially at a time when the party is planning to focus on Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region.
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Kedar (62) is a five-time MLA from the Saoner Assembly constituency in Nagpur district. He hails from a well-known political family. He is the son of veteran Congress minister Chhatrapal Kedar alias Babasaheb Kedar, a pioneer in the cooperative movement in Vidarbha. Babasaheb Kedar is highly revered for running the cooperative sector successfully. In the 1970s, as rural development minister in the Congress government, he set up the Kalamna Agriculture Produce Market Committee. He was the founding president of the Maharashtra State Cotton Growers Federation in 1984.
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Sunil Kedar is married to Anuja Vijaykar, granddaughter of Sheshrao Wankhede, who was a Congress minister and speaker in the Assembly in the 1970s. Wankhede also served as the BCCI president. The Wankhede Cricket Stadium in Mumbai is named after him. Kedar’s mother-in-law Kundatai Vijaykar was first woman mayor of Nagpur
The ruling BJP has termed the developments in court and disqualification as part of due process and not politics.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “The conviction order was pronounced in court in the bank case. Whenever anybody is convicted for more than two years of imprisonment, as per rule they are disqualified from the legislature.”
The Opposition, however, has termed the disqualification of Sunil Kedar as being part of a political vendetta.
Congress president Nana Patole said, “The BJP is misusing central agencies against Opposition leaders. Why are they not taking action against BJP leaders who are convicted?”
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut supported Kedar. “Sunil Kedar is a fighter. We support him. The people will give BJP a befitting reply in the 2024 polls,” he said.
In 1992, Kedar started his political career as a member of the Nagpur zilla parishad. Three years later, he contested the 1995 Assembly elections as an independent and emerged as a giant-killer by defeating Congress stalwart Ranjit Deshmukh. Ranjitbabu, as he is popularly called, served as state Congress president for two terms, 1997-1998 and 2003-2004. He was agriculture minister from 1999 to 2004.
Born and brought up in Nagpur, Kedar is a graduate in agricultural science and holds a master’s degree in business management.
As a first-time MLA, Kedar was made minister of state for power and transport in the Shiv Sena- BJP government in 1995. The saffron coalition, short of the magic number of 145, sought the support of independents and Kedar had pledged his support.
In 1999, Kedar joined the newly formed NCP. The Congress, which was not in any pre-poll alliance, fielded Shantaram Gawande in Saoner. The division of secular votes saw the BJP’s Deaora Asole winning the seat.
The bank scam in which Kedar has been convicted dates back to 2002, when he became chairman of the Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank. During his tenure, the bank lost more than Rs 125 crore in two years. He was expelled along with other directors of the bank and an administrator was appointed to manage the operations.
After the bank fraud led to his expulsion from the NCP, he joined the Congress. But the party did not field him in the 2004 Assembly polls. Determined to pursue his electoral politics, Kedar contested the polls as an independent and defeated the BJP’s sitting MLA, Deaora Asole. The Congress emerged fourth, with even the BSP faring better.
Congress leaders reckoned Kedar’s ability to retain the turf even as an independent in Saoner. In the next three successive elections, in 2009, 2014 and 2019, he won the seat for the Congress.
In the fiercely contested 2009 polls, Kedar, as the Congress candidate, defeated the BJP’s Ashish Deshmukh, son of Ranjit Deshmukh. Kedar thus set a record of defeating a father-and-son duo in two elections from the Saoner seat.
Despite the Modi wave that saw many established leaders biting dust, Kedar was able to retain his home turf in 2014. In fact, he had a cakewalk in Saoner and defeated Shiv Sena candidate Vinod Jivtode. BJP candidate Sonba Musale’s nomination was rejected by the Election Commission. In the 2019 Assembly polls, Kedar beat the BJP’s Rajiv Potdar to cement his hold in the constituency.
From 2002 to 2023, his rivals often raised the bank scam but Kedar stood his ground in elections.
On December 23, after a long-drawn court battle, Kedar was finally convicted for diverting bank funds to private entities for buying government securities. A special court in Nagpur sentenced him to five years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs 12.5 lakh.
On December 24, a gazette order of the state legislature’s secretariat said that Kedar stood disqualified as an MLA from the date of his conviction.
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