Sundarrao Solanke

Sundarrao Solanke was born in affluent Solunke maratha family of Mohikhed village in Majalgaon tehsil of Beed district. He did his graduation in LLB at Osmania University of erstwhile Hyderabad state. Though he wanted to become doctor his elder brother Dajisaheb Solanke Patil requested him to become an advocate and serve the people of Maharashtra.

Solanke was elected for first time as a member of Beed local board in 1962 and became the first president of Beed Zilla Parishad.

As a president of Beed zilla parishad he worked for overall development of the district and made a separate identity in the politics of Beed district. In 1967, general assembly elections as well as Loksabha elections were announced and Solanke declared candidate of Congress from Kaij constituency. That time Beed district politics was dominated by Communist ideology. Nana Patil was contesting for Beed Loksabha seat. Comrade Gangadhar Appa Burande of Communist Party of India filed nomination against Solanke. Under leadership of Yashwantrao Chavan and Vinayakrao Patil, Solanke won election. He became MLA for first time and given responsibility of deputy minister.

In 1972 Maharashtra assembly elections, Kaij constituency reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates and so Solanke decided to contest election from Georai constituency of Beed District. He was elected unopposed and became a cabinet minister in governments of Vasantrao Naik and Shankarrao Chavan government.

He was elected from Majalgaon constituency for the third time as MLA, once again from a different constituency.

In 1978 when Vasantdada Patil was the chief minister of Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar and Solanke withdrew support and formed new government under Progressive Democratic Front. Pawar became chief minister and Solanke became deputy chief minister.

As Deputy Chief Minister, Solanke recommended waiving the bunding loans of farmers in cabinet, which was agreed.

Solanke was instrumental in the establishment of many sugar-producing factories in the region.

Also construction of Beed-Parali road, Parali Thermal Power plant, Majalgaon dam, Majalgaon hydroelectric project, Kundalika project started and completed during his times by his efforts.[2]

Controversy over Majalgaon Dam

The Jayakwadi stage II project that is Majalgaon Dam approved by government of Maharashtra due to Solanke. But while construction of dam a serious communal problem arose. There was one religious holy place or structure in the project affected area, stalling the project work due to heavy opposition from respective followers to shift the same. Solanke tried unsuccessfully to get support to continue the project work. Finally he has decided to shift the religious structure ignoring the opposition and completed the Majalgaon Dam successfully. This project changed the face of the Majalgaon, parts of Jalna and Parbhani district. In the next assembly elections, in 1980, most of the community believing in holy structure voted against him. He lost by margin of 3500 votes and decided not to contest elections again.

A statue commemorating Solanke was erected at Sundarnagar after his death.

• Prakashdada Solanke

• Baburao Narsingrao Kokate (Adaskar)

• Vilasrao Deshmukh