This is dynastic politics with a difference. But it took a slap in the face for the Shiv Sena to figure that out. Till his name figured in the list of Sena nominees for the Assembly elections from Deolali, 26-year-old Ravikiran Chandrakant Gholap was completely unknown both in the party circles and in Deolali. Now, after about 15 days of putting up a sham of door-to-door campaigning, Ravikiran has made a name for himself as the willing sacrificial lamb in his uncle Babanrao Gholap's devious political game.Ravikiran submitted the relevant documents to the local collector as the Sena-BJP candidate for Deolali, a defence training centre and hill station near Nashik in Maharashtra. Only, he submitted deliberately, it is suspected photocopies of the party's authorisation letters instead of the original ones. Predictably, his candidature was rejected.It could have been dismissed as a faux pas but for the fact that he is the nephew, and virtual political heir, of Babanrao who, at the last minute, filed hispapers as an Independent for the seat.Gholap Sr had been sacked from the state cabinet after an inquiry began into misappropriation of funds of three corporations for the welfare of Backward castes as well as his ill-gotten wealth. The mud stuck and he was denied a ticket mainly on the BJP's insistence. (On Monday, Babanrao was arrested on the charge of embezzlement of public funds worth Rs 5 crore.) His recommendation that wife Shashikala be given the ticket from Deolali was turned down. It was then that Babanrao recommended his nephew Ravikiran.But a day before Ravikiran's nomination papers were rejected, Babanrao also submitted his own papers. Once the former was out of the contest, the Sena was left with two options: to back Babanrao or to give up a seat. Clever ploy, and Babanrao couldn't have pulled it off without Ravikiran.The latter went along because he had to. Here's a strange sort of dynastic subservience where the nephew is beholden, in all respects, to his uncle. And Babanrao promotesRavikiran as if he were his offspring. Ravikiran's parents died when he was barely seven. Babanrao took over the parenting and financed Ravikiran's education till Standard IX. Later, he put Ravikiran in charge of his 36-acre farm, bought for Rs 5 lakh on the Nashik-Trimbakeshwar road, that is in Shashikala's name. Incidentally, it's this farmhouse that brought Babanrao under a cloud of suspicion, leading to the registration of a criminal case under the Prevention of Corruption Act.Babanrao had earlier threatened to revolt if he was denied party nomination (he now faces expulsion), arguing that former chief minister Manohar Joshi against whom the Bombay High Court had passed severe strictures had also got the ticket for the Lok Sabha elections. But obviously, Babanrao also had an alternative plan worked out on the side.Given the symbiotic relationship Babanrao and Ravikiran share, the latter perhaps didn't need much convincing. In the name of family duty and politics, after all, anything is kosher.
