Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) legislator Anil Babar passed away in Maharashtra’s Sangli district in the early hours of Wednesday following a brief illness. He was 74.
A four-time MLA from Sangli’s Khanapur-Atpadi Assembly constituency, Mr. Babar breathed his last at a private hospital.
Expressing grief at his demise, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said he had lost a guide and a close associate and the State has lost a true representative of the people, one who embodied the Shiv Sena’s spirit of social service.
In his condolence message, Mr. Shinde said that Mr. Babar’s work in the Khanapur-Atpadi constituency could never be forgotten, while specially mentioning the late MLA’s contribution towards the tembu (lift irrigation) scheme, his concern over farmers’ issues, and other developmental works.
Mr. Shinde left for Sangli as soon as he received news of Mr. Babar’s passing away.
“I had never expected he would pass away in this untimely manner. We worked together for several years. It is as if a member of our family has passed away,” the CM said, adding that Mr. Babar’s cremation would take place with full State honours.
Deputy CM and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who also reached Sangli to condole with Mr. Babar’s family, recalled their long association together.
“We are all extremely saddened about his untimely death. Mr. Babar’s work in Sangli will always live on. He was a man who rose from the grassroots as a sarpanch of his village and was always regarded as a leader who remained connected to the people and their problems,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
Mr. Babar decided to go along with Mr. Shinde following the latter’s rebellion which split Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and was part of the group of legislators that had gone to Guwahati.
He was first elected to the Maharashtra Assembly in 1990 on a Congress ticket.
By the time of the 1999 Maharashtra Assembly election, he had shifted to the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and won the Khanapur seat a second time on an NCP ticket.
He later switched to the Shiv Sena, winning both the 2014 and 2019 Assembly elections on a Sena ticket.
