Sambhajirao Kakade

Sambhajirao is son of Sahebrao Kakade who was one of the key founder of the Someshwar Sugar Co-operative factory near Baramati. The Kakade and the family of Sharad Pawar have been rivals in the politics of Baramati and the cooperative societies over generations.[1]

Sambhajirao is the patriarch of a political family. He has three sons, Prithviraj, Meghraj and Jairaj. Meghraj Kakade is married to D. Y. Patil's daughter. His youngest daughter-in-law Mrunalini Kakade contested the 2009 Baramati Lok Sabha election against Supriya Sule. His Nephew Viraj Babulal Kakade contested the 1998 Baramati Lok Sabha election against Sharad Pawar. His other nephew Satish Kakade is a Pune District council member, and is known for fighting for the rights of farmer in Baramati region; he is called Lalasaheb.

Like most politicians from Western Maharashtra, Sambhajirao has been active in the cooperative sector all his life. Early in his career he belonged to the united Congress party. Upon the split in the party in 1969, he joined the Congress(O) rather than the Congress(R) faction of prime minister Indira Gandhi. He failed in his bid to win the Baramati Lok sabha seat in the 1971 general election. In the Lok Sabha elections of 1977 after the emergency, he contested the Baramati seat again as the candidate of the opposition Janata alliance and won the seat. He lost it in the 1980 elections but regained it in the 1984 elections. [2]