Jaywantiben Mehta, 78, senior leader who rose through the ranks in Maharashtra BJP to serve as Minister of State for Power in the BJP government led by Atal Behari Vajpayee from 1996 to 1999, passed away on Monday at her residence after a brief illness.
Senior leaders from all parties paid homage to Ms. Mehta, who was one of the few women leaders from the Maharashtra BJP to make her mark nationally and represent the Gujarati community from Mumbai. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari were among leaders who paid homage to the leader at her residence.
Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal, former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant, Mumbai Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar, BJP Ministers Vinod Tawde, Pankaja Munde, Vidya Thakur and several BJP unit leaders were present at the funeral at Shivaji park crematorium.
Active in the Jana Sangh and later in the BJP, Mehta was elected as a Mumbai corporator in 1968 and served a consecutive second term in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
National presence
She faced imprisonment for 19 months during the Emergency in 1975. In 1978, she was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from South Mumbai and served another term. In 1980 she was made a member of the BJP National Executive.
In 1989, she was first elected to the Lok Sabha from the Mumbai North East constituency before she was given the coveted Mumbai South constituency. She was elected twice in 1996 and 1999 from Mumbai South where she defeated Congress leader Murli Deora, who had a powerful stronghold on the constituency.
Glowing tributes
Maharashtra Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao, who worked as her cabinet colleague in the Vajpayee government, condoled her death.
He said, “Jayawantiben made her distinct mark as Minister of State for Power and as a Parliamentarian. She was a good orator and committed social worker gifted with bounless energy. She made immense contribution to the development of the State, especial that of her constituency of South Mumbai.”
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also paid glowing tributes to the senior leader stating that her journey from a corporator in Mumbai to the Union Cabinet was inspiring to the party loyalists. “Fondly known as ‘Bhuleshwar ki Bhavani’, her contribution for BJP’s growth and governance in Mumbai, Maharashtra and nation will be remembered forever,” Mr. Fadnavis tweeted.
