Maharashtra Transport Minister and Shiv Sena leader Pratap Baburao Sarnaik is again at the centre of a controversy. Barely a month after he pulled up bike taxi aggregator Rapido, the company is reported to be sponsoring a dahi-handi event organised by his son.
This has drawn criticism from the Opposition. For Sarnaik, such rows are not new though.
Sarnaik, 61, was born in Thane’s Dombivli. His father Baburao Sarnaik worked with a Marathi daily named Maratha, and his mother was a school teacher. With the family finding it tough to make ends meet, Sarnaik sold incense sticks and calendars, ran an omelette cart, and drove an autorickshaw in Thane. Then, he joined real estate through the Vihang Group and eventually forayed into the hospitality sector.
His political career began in the undivided NCP – he was its corporator in the Thane Municipal Corporation for three terms. In 2008, upset over not being given the post of Leader of Opposition in the civic body, he joined the Shiv Sena. That same year, he made headlines for gifting Ajit Pawar a diamond-studded mobile phone.
A year later, Sarnaik won the newly created Ovala–Majiwada Assembly seat, and has retained it ever since — in 2014, 2019, and 2024. Over the years, Sarnaik has gained a reputation as a strongman of Thane politics. He is close to Shiv Sena chief and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
In 2020, his name reportedly came up in an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into a money laundering case linked to a firm named Topsgrup Services and Solutions Ltd. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police later closed the case in 2022 after the Shinde-led Mahayuti government was formed.
While that probe was on, Sarnaik became a vocal advocate for a Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, urging the then united Sena chief and CM Uddhav Thackeray to sever ties with his Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners Congress and NCP.
In June 2021, in a letter to Uddhav, Sarnaik wrote that the Sena should unite with the BJP to “save Sena leaders from harassment” by central agencies. He claimed that such a move would end the alleged “harassment” faced by him and other leaders from various agencies.
His call for a shift to the BJP is said to be one of many factors leading to the split in the Shiv Sena, with Sarnaik emerging as a key supporter of the Shinde faction.
In June 2022, when Shinde revolted against Thackeray, Sarnaik was one of the first MLAs to join the Shinde camp and was instrumental in his rebellion.
After the Shinde–BJP government was formed, Sarnaik had to wait before being given a ministerial berth. He finally became Transport Minister in December 2024 after the Mahayuti’s return to power by winning the Assembly polls. But his tenure has already seen several controversies so far.
In February this year, he visited the Congress-ruled Karnataka to study KSRTC’s premium bus services. Days later, IAS officer Sanjay Sethi was appointed chairman of the state-run MSRTC — a post usually held by political appointees.
The move was seen as a signal from CM Devendra Fadnavis that Sarnaik’s style of functioning and his visit to Karnataka had not gone down well.
In May, Sarnaik had announced a decision to scrap a Rs 10,000-crore electric bus contract with Olectra–Evey Trans, stating that the company was not sticking to the deadline of delivering the bus supplies. A day later, he took a U-turn, announcing that he has directed the company to stick to a new delivery schedule despite past performance issues.
In July, he said that fare concessions given to women and senior citizens during the Shinde-led government resulted in a loss of Rs 3 crore a day to the transport department.
In January, he described Hindi as “Mumbai’s spoken language” and “a beloved sister” of Marathi, a remark that drew criticism from Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), who accused him of compromising Marathi pride for politics.
Sarnaik is also known for his organisation Sanskriti Yuva Pratishthan, which organises cultural events. One of these annual events is the Pro-Govinda League, the dahi handi competition that is at the centre of the latest row involving his son Purvesh Sarnaik.
On July 2, in a widely publicised operation, Sarnaik had “caught” a Rapido bike taxi near the Mantralaya junction in Mumbai. He also booked a ride on the app using a random name to confirm public complaints about unauthorised bike taxi services.
Sarnaik then announced action against Rapido for operating in Mumbai “without permission”. His department launched raids and confiscated 78 bike taxis operating for Rapido.
However, on Thursday, the same bike taxi aggregator emerged as the main sponsor of this year’s Pro-Govinda League, which is organised by Purvesh in Mumbai.
Sarnaik and his son have denied the allegations of wrongdoing. “I had taken action against the company on July 2, whereas the sponsorship was given on May 26. I fearlessly took action against the company that was sponsoring the event organised by my son Purvesh Sarnaik. Instead of praising the action, some people are opposing it for the sake of it,” the minister said.