Girish Bapat

Some Lesser Known Facts About Girish Bapat

• Girish Bapat was an Indian politician and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was elected MP from Pune, Maharashtra in the 2019 general elections. Prior to that, he was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly consecutively five times from the Kasba Peth seat from 1995 to 2014. From 2014 to 2019, he served as the Cabinet Minister for Food & Civil Supplies, Cabinet Minister for Food & Drug Administration, and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in the Government of Maharashtra under then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

• The onset of his political journey can be traced back to his affiliation with the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). A staunch karykarta of the RSS, Bapat was imprisoned at Nashik central prison for 19 months during the Emergency. It propelled him into politics.

• Bapat made various friends across the political spectrum during his five-decade-long political career. In the 1980s and 90s, the friendship of Girish Bapat, Congress member Shantilal Suratwala, and NCP leader Ankush Kakade was the talk of the town in Pune. They were referred to as ‘GAS’ in political circles, an acronym of the initials of their first names.

  

• Bapat entered politics in the 1980s and was elected to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) as a corporator in his first attempt in 1983.

• He also worked as a labourer at Tata Motors (then known as Telco company), where he was an active Union member.

• In February 2023, despite being ill and unable to speak, addressed a gathering of BJP party members at Lokmanya Hall in Kesri Wada in a wheelchair and with oxygen in tow to campaign for the Kasba Peth assembly constituency by-polls. The BJP attracted criticism for involving an ailing Bapat in the keenly fought contest.

  

• Before his death, he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Pune. Bapat was critically ill and on life support treatment. Mortal remains of Bapat were brought to his residence in Kasba Peth for his last rites.