Don’t Own A Dance Bar, Just A Bar, Explains A Veteran Maharashtra Leader

Mudslinging by politicians at each other sometimes results in baring the naked truth before the public. While it could be deliberate, occasionally it can be inadvertent also. This happened owing to a heated argument in the Maharashtra legislative council. The focus of the attack was none other than the minister of state for home, Yogesh Kadam. The allegation was that a bar at Borivali was run by his family, which is incidentally headed by veteran politician Ramdas Kadam, father of the minister. The charge was levelled by Shiv Sena (UBT) member Anil Parab, who said that it was a dance bar. Clarifying, Ramdas said it was not a dance bar but just a bar and was in the name of Jyoti, his wife and mother of Yogesh. The bar was run by a hotelier called Shetty and only ladies’ service was available there. Ramdas is among the senior members of the original Shiv Sena and was handpicked by Balasaheb Thackeray to contest from Khed in Ratnagiri district. An aggressive leader, Ramdas was made a minister of home in the final days of the first Sena–BJP government, which ruled the state between 1995 and 1999. Ramdas was among the first lot who left Uddhav to join the Eknath Shinde camp, now deputy chief minister of Maharashtra. Ramdas has threatened to initiate legal action against Parab for the perceived defamation. Interestingly, when the Sena long ago was agitating against ‘outsiders,’ Kadam had entrusted his business to a south Indian.