Key Points
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Lok Sabha MP for Pune, Girish Bapat, passed away on March 29 after a long illness, at the age of 72...
Mr. Bapats demise is the third major setback for the BJP in Pune district in less than four months; the party lost two influential leaders, then Kasba Peth MLA Mukta Tilak and its sitting Chinchwad MLA Laxman Jagtap in December 2022 and January this year, respectively...
Tributes and condolences poured across the political spectrum, with Chief Minister and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde stating that in Mr. Bapats passing, not just Pune but Maharashtra had lost a tall leader...
Paying fulsome tributes to Mr. Bapat, senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar, who is current Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, said that the departed BJP leader always transcended the narrow-minded confines of caste, creed and regionality in his political career...
While senior NCP leader from Pune, Ankush Kakade, burst into tears recalling instances of their personal friendship, another senior NCP leader Eknath Khadse (formerly with the BJP), recalled Mr. Bapats political skill in setting up his party establishment in places where the BJP had no influence whatsoever...
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