Once an autorickshaw driver, Rahul Jadhav, has now been elected as the mayor of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), Pune at the recently concluded municipal corporation elections.
Addressing the media, Jadhav told PTI,
“Pimpri Chinchwad city is known as the city of workers. I have worked as an autorickshaw driver and know what the problems of the workers are. With the help of senior party leaders, we are committed to the all-inclusive development of the city.”
Around 10 years ago, he used to earn around Rs 200 per day and barely managed to make ends meet. However, in the last one decade, his life changed. Jadhav belongs to a family of farmers and has studied till Class 10. He worked as an autorickshaw driver from 1996 to 2003.
“But after the ban on six-seater auto-rickshaws, I turned to farm, but soon switched to driving again and took up the job as a driver in a private firm.”
In 2007, he joined the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). And soon, he became a corporator.
“In 2012, I became a corporator on the MNS ticket for the first time. In 2017, I joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and became the corporator for the second time.”
In the mayoral elections, Jadhav bagged 80 votes, including six from independent corporators, beating Vinod Nadhe of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) who managed to get 33 votes.
Life as an autorickshaw driver was not at all smooth for Jadhav. But now as Mayor, his priority is to focus on the upliftment of commoners and look after the development of the industrial city.
