Khaki to khadi: Ex-cop in running in Wadala

A retired policeman from Thane plans to contest the state election, with police reforms as his main agenda. Baban Jadhav (60), who retired in 2007 as assistant police inspector, is contesting as an Independent from Wadala, with the whistle as his election symbol, reports Sujit Mahamulkar.

A retired policeman from Thane plans to contest the state election, with police reforms as his main agenda.

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Baban Jadhav (60), who retired in 2007 as assistant police inspector, is contesting as an Independent from Wadala, with the whistle as his election symbol.

Among his priorities are tackling corruption within the force and improving housing for policemen. Jadhav says he chose Wadala because of the many police housing colonies here — over 50,000 policemen live in the region.

“I could win just with the policemen’s vote,” he said. “But I wanted the civilians with me too.”

Towards that end, Jadhav has promised, among other things, to appoint a citizens committee to decide how his MLA fund should be used.

His main focus, though, will be cleaning up the force.

“The police are working under immense pressure and interference from high-ranking officials and politicians,” he said. “I have experienced this interference in my 37 years of service. I want to expose this corruption and lack of transparency.”

Jadhav is among 10 candidates in this constituency, the most prominent being sitting Congress MLA Kalidas Kolambkar (56) and the Shiv Sena’s Digambar Kadarkar (53).