From salesman to city mayor, Joshi has come a long way

Nagpur: Though the son of a MLC, and a long-time close friend of Devendra Fadnavis, 49-year-old Sandip Joshi began life as a sales man, and even did odd jobs like printing the annual diary for Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). Joshi’s father — Diwakarrao, former MLC — was a man of principles and insisted his son does not get a political berth on a platter in 1992, when Fadnavis won his first election to become a corporator.
Joshi’s father started service as a peon, and went on to become a teacher after passing BEd.He lost his job for participating in a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) convention. But he managed to get a job as teacher in a private school and continued with his political career. He was elected as MLC from teachers’ constituency in 1986.
Joshi recalls, “Nitin Gadkari, now Union minister, gave a BJP ticket for municipal elections to Fadnavis from Dharampeth and myself from Khamla in 1992. But my father was a man of principles. He did not allow me to contest, saying I should not get any favours due to him.”
The young Sandip kept his political career on hold and started working as a sales man in a furniture manufacturing company on a salary of Rs 800 per month in 1993. “Alongside, I opened a cyber cafe and started printing work. I got NMC’s contract for printing its annual diary. Before my father’s demise in 1997, my father gave the green signal to me for a political career. Then, I contested NMC elections and was elected as corporator in 2002,” says Joshi.
His last job was on the post of toll manager in Vishvaraj Infrastructure Limited (VIL), where he had started to take an interest in construction of flat schemes. Joshi has been a builder by profession for the last few years.
Since he got a berth in politics, Joshi never looked back, and has been elected consecutively four times, the latest in 2017. The BJP started to see Joshi as a big leader after his successful term as standing committee chairman in NMC in 2010-11. He planned various projects like 24x7 Water Supply project, Cement Concrete Road Project phase-I, Suresh Bhat auditorium etc. Joshi became the first in NMC’s history to get the post of standing committee chairman for the second consecutive year in 2011-12.
Joshi, a commerce graduate, was also in the race for being named the ruling party leader in NMC in 2014, alongside his senior Dayashankar Tiwari, but the latter pipped him to the post. Joshi went on to get the post in 2017.
Joshi also takes keen interest and initiative in sports, cultural and social fields. He has managed projects like Nagpur Mahotsav, Deendayal Thali, Deendayal Anokhe Dhukan, Khasdar Kridotsav etc, which have made him a versatile politician.
After Fadnavis became the CM, political circles expected a promotion for Joshi to the state-level, but it never happened. A couple of years ago, Joshi was appointed chairman of MSSIDC, which is at the rank of a minister of state, but he could not take charge due to some litigation.
For the last few years, Joshi has also looked after eight well-known social organizations including Yuva Jhep Pratishthan, Deendayal Rugna Seva Prakalpa etc.