Giant killer Suresh Dhanorkar: Congress’s lone MP from Maharashtra

He defeated four-time Chandrapur MP Hansraj Ahir by a margin of 44,763 votes

Suresh Dhanorkar, 44, a low-profile politician whose candidature led to high drama in the Congress, has emerged as the party’s lone member of parliament (MP) from the Congress from Maharashtra. He defeated four-time Chandrapur MP Hansraj Ahir by a margin of 44,763 votes.

Suresh Dhanorkar (HT FILE)

Dhanorkar left the Shiv Sena’s primary membership and quit as MLA to challenge Ahir, the outgoing minister of state for home. The Congress replaced its candidate, Vinayak Bangade, with Dhanorkar, a “kunbi” (similar to Marathas in western Maharashtra), which led to a furore among party workers, exposed the glaring factionalism in the district unit. The kunbi factor, however, helped Dhanorkar get a lead in the Rajura and Chandrapur Assembly segments.

Dhanorkar was the Shiv Sena district chief for more than 10 years and Bhadrawati Municipality near Chandrapur is being controlled by his group for the past 15 years.

Son of a primary school teacher, he had unsuccessfully contested the Assembly elections from Warora in 2009, losing by a narrow margin to Sanjay Deotale (then Congress contestant). However, he bounced back in 2014 and was elected as MLA from the constituency as a Shiv Sena nominee.

In 2016, Dhanorkar was arrested for threatening a patwari in the district who was handling a case involving illegal excavation of sand.