Battle Of Cousins: Kishor Patil Vs Vaishali Suryawanshi In Pachora

Pachora, Maharashtra: Pachora is going to witness a direct fight between cousins in the assembly polls. The BJP-sitting MLA Kishor Patil will face Vaishali Suryawanshi of Shiv Sena (UBT) in the constituency. While Patil is seeking his third consecutive win, it is Suryawanshi’s debut contest in the poll fray.

Vaishali Suryavanshi is a businesswoman turned politician. She is the daughter of the late Shiv Sena leader from Jalgaon Tatyasaheb RO Patil. She was staying away from politics and has been running agribusiness and school. She was quite active in the social work front.

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Tatyasaheb represented Pachora two times – in 1999, and 2004. He had also maintained a close connection with the Thackeray family over three decades. Kishor is Tatyasaheb’s nephew, and after the latter’s death, the former continued the political lineage of the family.

Kishor, who started his career as a cadet in the police department and as an agriculturalist, switched to politics later. A former president of Pachora Municipal Council, he entered the electoral field in 2014.

In the 2014 assembly elections, Patil contested and won from Pachora on a Shiv Sena ticket. He secured 87,520 votes, while the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Dilip Onkar Wagh received 59,117 votes. In the 2019 polls, Patil retained the seat, defeating Independent candidate Amol Shinde with a margin of 73,615 votes. He has also served as the Director and Vice President of Jalgaon District Central Co-operative Bank and currently acts as the Vice Chairman of Jalgaon District Shiv Sena.

“I separate politics from family. Though she (Suryawanshi) is my cousin, our political trajectories differ. I chose to adhere to Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideology and supported chief minister Eknath Shinde. It benefited my constituency and the state,” The Times of India quotes, as Kishor is saying. Suryawanshi’s electoral inexperience would aid his victory in the assembly election, he added.

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Meanwhile, Suryawanshi abstained from speaking about family ties and said the election was her predominant concern. “People recognise who is carrying the legacy of Balasaheb Thackeray. Kishore’s departure from the Thackerays distressed me. I joined Shiv Sena (UBT) because the voters wanted someone to take on the present state of affairs in Maharashtra,” the TOI quotes, as he is saying.