Ex-MP & staunch Vidarbha proponent Jambuwantrao Dhote no more

Jambuwantrao Dhote, a former Lok Sabha MP and a stalwart of the separate Vidarbha movement, passed away today in Yavatmal following a cardiac arrest, his family said.
He was 83 and is survived by wife and two daughters.
"My father had heart ailments. He felt uneasy at around 3 AM and alone went to the Government hospital in Yavatmal. But he suffered a cardiac arrest in the hospital and passed away while undergoing treatment," Dhote's daughter Kranti told PTI.
Dhote was a firebrand leader and known as 'Lion of Vidarbha' for aggressively championing the cause of statehood to the region in Eastern Maharashtra.

He started his political career in home district Yavatmal, where he won the Nagar Parishad elections before entering in the state -level politics.
Dhote was elected to the Maharashtra Assembly five times and won his first Lok Sabha election in 1971 as a Forward Bloc candidate.

However, in 1977 he lost the Lok Sabha elections from Nagpur to Gev Awari. He made a successful comeback in 1980 when he was again elected to the Lower House of Parliament from Nagpur, the second capital of Maharashtra, as Congress (I) candidate.
However, Dhote, who had supported former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during Emergency, resigned from Congress in 1983.

He founded Vidarbha Janta Congress (VJC) on September 9, 2002 to focus on the statehood demand.
Dhote's funeral will take place at his family farm at Pimpri Lakhina in Yavatmal tomorrow.