Sanjay Khodke, the NCP candidate for the March 27 state council by-elections, is an old party hand and backroom manoeuvrer who played a key role in shoring up support for Ajit Pawar when he split from his uncle, Sharad.
Khodke’s wife Sulbha is the party legislator from Amravati, who won the seat in the November 2024 assembly election in what was considered a Congress bastion.
According to sources, Ajit Pawar had finalised Khodke’s candidature on Friday and then avoided any discussion on the subject. Khodke filed his nomination papers on Monday in the presence of Pawar, state BJP chief and Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, state NCP chief and Member of Parliament Sunil Tatkare, and Pankaj Bhujbal, member of the legislative council and son of NCP stalwart Chhagan Bhujbal.
Khodke’s work in the background was crucial when the NCP split in July 2023. He mobilised the party’s MLAs to side with Ajit Pawar as well as finalised the names for Cabinet berths.
Khodke’s experience in such matters dates back to 1999 when the NCP was formed by Sharad Pawar. He was associated with the Pawar faction since 1996 when he was the private secretary to the then deputy speaker of the assembly, Sharad Tasare. Khodke was closely associated with Bhujbal when the latter was the opposition leader in the state council and later deputy chief minister in the Congress-led alliance government.
The NCP ensured his presence in the deputy CM’s office when Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil took over from Bhujbal and, later, when RR Patil occupied the chair. When RR Patil was appointed the NCP state unit chief in 2008, Khodke moved to the party’s headquarters.
An employee of the Maharashtra Seeds Development Corporation, Khodke took voluntary retirement to focus on party work.
After helping finalise NCP candidates for various elections and cabinets, Khodke will now enter the upper house for a five-year term.
