It takes all types

GOING by the seats-for-sale scandal in Maharashtra, it might seem paradoxical that Machhindra Chate, the man behind the eponymous coaching c...

GOING by the seats-for-sale scandal in Maharashtra, it might seem paradoxical that Machhindra Chate, the man behind the eponymous coaching classes, is joining politics now. His career could have well unfolded the other way: join politics, and then dabble in education. That8217;s the way the ministers now in the dock for the scandal did it.

But then Chate, 38, has never been one for playing by the rules. As an engineering student, he taught 15 students in Aurangabad to support his family. But his degree brought more than he had bargained for: the insight that more money lay in coaching students than building bridges. In 1996, he started looking beyond Aurangabad; within a couple of years, he had touched Mumbai and the rest of the state. 8216;8216;Today, I have 100 branches, 4,000 staff and 40,000 students,8217;8217; he says proudly. His annual turnover: Rs 45 crore; his annual advertising budget: Rs 5 crore.

For a man who has made in pile in Maharashtra, two avenues open up immediately. Films and politics. Chate already owns Devyani Movies, a film production company. His entry into politics last week 8212; he swears allegiance to Laloo Prasad Yadav, 8216;8216;the only leader who understands farmers8217; problems8217;8217; 8212; completes the trappings.

Chate also appreciates the fact that all the three hats he wears depend on one crucial crutch: the media. And being the savvy man that he is, he also owns Dainik Lok Sanket, a Marathi daily published from Mumbai and Aurangabad.

For all his obvious flair for spotting an opportunity though, Chate hasn8217;t displayed quite the same knack for riding out controversies 8212; even if they are the same controversies every year. For three years, 1996 to 1999, Chate Classes brought out full-page advertisements the day after the HSC results, declaring the topper to be a Chate student. Even as parents and students queued up for admission to the next batch, in 1999, then minister of state for education Anil Deshmukh of the NCP burst the bubble by alleging that that year8217;s HSC topper Vishakha Gupta was not a Chate student, as claimed by the ads.

8216;8216;I came to know about this when I met Vishakha and her parents at a felicitation. Her father even filed a case against Chate in a Nagpur court,8217;8217; recalls Deshmukh. The issue generated much heat, but it ended tamely, with an out-of-court settlement.

The next year, the controversy erupted with a new face: HSC topper Madan Nagaroje. The battlelines had been drawn between Chate and Deshmukh, and culminated with a coaching class-regulation ordinance. The Bill made its way into the Assembly, but nothing has been heard of it since then.

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The issue, though, is far from dead: This year, Deshmukh revived his charges against Chate, doubting that HSC topper among girls Smriti Hindaria was his student. The self-anointed coaching king has responded with a Rs 500-crore defamation suit against the minister and the government.

Quiz Chate on these issues and his response is quickfire: 8216;8216;Ours is a transparent business. Unlike the private colleges, we are clean.8217;8217;

He brushes off charges of suspicious proximity to former deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde with similar alacrity. Denying that Munde has any stake in his empire, Chate says, 8216;8216;We belong to the same district, Beed, and same caste. We respect each other, there8217;s nothing beyond that. Our friendship has never benefited me. In fact, I give concessions to students who are sent by Munde.8217;8217;

Chate8217;s statement may not say much for political correctness, but now he is making the right political noises. His ambition now, he says, is to be chief minister. 8216;8216;My party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, will contest all 288 seats in the next elections, and I will be my party8217;s chief ministerial candidate,8217;8217; he declares.

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But why with the RJD? 8216;8216;Politicians in Maharashtra are an incompetent lot,8217;8217;he retorts.

Hope good friend Munde is not reading this.