of Congress Party! This tarnished Joshi’s own image in the minds of his followers with political ambitions and also the public at large. People felt, perhaps not without reason, that there was no consistency in his stand, which led to the loss of his overall credibility. In no other election in future, did the voters take SS as a serious political alternative. Swatantra Bharat Paksh (SBP) was the next phase of Joshi’s political life. He himself had founded that Party by reviving the old but later defunct Swatantra Party of C. Rajagopalachari. That was a party with good ideological base but in later years had lost the popular base which it had during the days of Rajaji. More about this SBP will follow in the last chapter. Joshi decided to field 202 candidates for the assembly elections in February 1995, mostly on behalf of the Swatantra Bharat Paksh. Joshi himself contested from two constituencies; from Hinganghat (district Wardha) and Biloli (district Nanded). He was defeated in both; by Shiv Sena candidate in Hinganghat and Congress candidate in Biloli. Later he contested during the Lok Sabha elections of April 1996 from Nanded. But again he lost to the Congress candidate Gangadharrao Mohanrao Kunturkar by a big margin of over one lakh votes. Though Joshi himself never could win an election, some of his close colleagues in later years contested assembly elections on the ticket of different political parties and won. Among them were Pasha Patel (MLC - BJP), Anil Gote (BJP and later on his own), Shankar Dhondage (Nationalist Congress, NCP), Raju Shetty (Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana — SSS and Sadashiv Khot (MLC of BJP). Raju Shetty was later elected to the Lok Sabha as well. Joshi was never annoyed with them nor tried to discourage them from contesting on the tickets of other political parties. ‘They did that for their own progress and the fulfillment of their ambition and there was nothing wrong in it,’ he said. On Political Front
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