Pune: Telco worker to Lok Sabha MP, Girish Bapat's inspiring journey ends; leader accorded full state honours

Pune: Five times MLA with no foes, Pune Loksabha Constituency MP Girish Bapat was laid to rest with full state honours on Wednesday evening. Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis offered a floral tribute on the behalf of the State Government.

Also present during the funeral were district guardian minister Chandrakant Patil, former union minister Prakash Javdekar, MP Shrirang Barne, MLA Uma Khapare and many others.

While paying the tributes Fadnavis said, “He was one of my family members, who had no enemies. His passing away has made me very sad. He was a true leader of the common people. He represented Pune as a corporator, chairman of the Standing Committee, five times MLA and MP."

"He was minister from the year 2014 to 2019. Since he had friendly relations across the party lines, he received cooperation from all during his state assembly period. He was the person who disclosed the bogus ration card scam”, added Fadnavis.

He was laid to rest with full state honours. The police department played the bugle and fired three rounds of guns. He was wrapped up in the tricolour.

Pune police commissioner Ritesh Kumar, Civic commissioner Vikram Kumar, and District collector Dr Rajesh Deshmukh paid the tributes. Former minister Harshvardhan Patil, Dilip Kamble, Vijay Shivtare, Ramesh Bagwe, Sanjay Kakade, Medha Kulkarni, Yogesh Tilekar, Chandrakan Mokate, Mohan Joshi and many others were present.

Telco worker to Lok Sabha MP, Girish Bapat's inspiring journey

Born: September 3, 1950

Primary Education: Talegaon Dabhade

Secondary education: New English School, Ramanbaugh

College: B.Com—BMCC

Job: Worker in Telco company in the year 1973

Served 19 months in jail during Emergency

Served on various posts in RSS, Jansangh etc

Became a Corporator for the first time in 1983

He was a corporator consequently for three years

Standing committee chairman at Pune Municipal Corporation (Despite BJP not in power)

Five times MLA since 1995

Cabinet minister in Devendra Fadnavis Ministry

Became MP in 2019

Leaders and Punekars react

Mohan Joshi, vice-president of Maharashtra State Congress Committee also paid tribute to the leader and said, "Passing away of Girish Bapat has made me immensely sad. He was ailing for some time now but never thought he would pass away so soon. We were good friends. His journey began as a party member, corporator, MLA, minister, guardian minister and then MP. But he was a hard-core party member. He was friendly across all party lines. He always kept city development in the forefront and ensured that politics did not affect the development of the city."

"He was five times MLA from Kasba Peth which says that he had a good rapport in his constituency as well as in the city. We were contesting elections against each other for Loksabha last time, but it did not affect our friendship. I pray to God to give his family the strength to bear the loss," Josh added.

Pune guardian minister Chandrakant Patil said, "I am feeling orphaned with his passing away. He was a veteran leader of the BJP and his demise is very painful. The party has lost its support. An RSS member to State minister, Bapat was at his best in every role he played. His name was synonymous with Pune. I have lost a guide in his passing away."

Krishnakumar Goyal, Founder and Chairman of Kohinoor Group, while paying the tribute said that in Bapat's passing, not just Kasba but Pune lost a leader who had got connected with citizens through his work. While Divisional Manager of Lokmanya Multipurpose Co-operative Society Limited, Sushil Jadhav said, "We have lost a leader who took everyone along with him for the development of Pune and his soft-spoken ness, public relations, and a go-getter personality made him a good leader."