From Crackdowns to Sponsorships? Opposition Slams Pratap Sarnaik Over Rapido Link to Pro Govinda League

Mumbai: Maharashtra’s political battlefield has heated up once again, with Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik now at the centre of a storm. Already under pressure to defend his position in the Mahayuti government, Deputy CM Eknath Shinde is making repeated trips to Delhi to secure political ground and protect his ministers—Bharat Gogawale, Sanjay Shirsat, Sanjay Gaikwad, and Yogesh Kadam—from mounting controversies. But as the fire rages, another spark has landed: allegations that Sarnaik pressured Rapido, the bike taxi platform, to sponsor his son’s flagship sporting event — the Pro Govinda League.

The opposition’s guns are blazing. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar took to social media platform X with a caustic attack on Sarnaik’s conduct: “With a stunt like this, the Transport Minister has shown the Maharashtra government how to raise funds for its events. First, book a ride using a private app, then catch the poor bike rider for violating the rules, declare the app-based bike taxi as illegal, create a PR campaign to show how alert and smart the Minister is, and finally collect sponsorship from the same company for an event.”

He accused Sarnaik of orchestrating a publicity stunt for personal image-building, adding: “In times when the state treasury is empty, this ‘Pratap’ (feat) by the Minister sets an example for other departments. If things continue like this, every minister may have to pull such stunts to fund their events.”

Sarnaik, however, has come out swinging in defence. He called the politicisation of a cultural sporting event “deeply unfortunate,” insisting:

“Any sport should be treated as just that — a sport. My son Purvesh Sarnaik has been organising the Pro Govinda League for the past three years to promote Maharashtra’s traditional Dahi Handi in a safer, mat-based format. Rapido was one of the 20-25 sponsors of this year’s event that began on May 26. That is a fact, and it cannot be denied.”

The minister emphasised that despite Rapido’s sponsorship, his record of action against the company was uncompromising: “After questions were raised in the monsoon session about the legality of Rapido’s bike taxi operations, I ordered immediate action as the responsible minister. FIRs were filed under section B.N.S.S.173 against Rapido’s top officials at the Amboli Police Station on July 17 and 18, based on my directives.”

Sarnaik argued this was unprecedented: “This is probably the first time a transport minister has taken such strict action against a major app-based service provider. This should be appreciated, not criticised.”

Concluding his defence, he urged detractors not to taint the sport with political mudslinging: “The fact that the traditional Dahi Handi sport is now played safely on mats through the Pro Govinda League is something Maharashtra should be proud of.”