Former Mumbai Congress president and former MP Eknath Gaikwad, 81, succumbed to COVID-19 on Wednesday at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. He was the father of Maharashtra School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Gaikwad defeated the former chief minister Manohar Joshi from the Mumbai South Central constituency. He has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Dharavi and also been the state minister twice. Since 1985, he has represented Dharavi. He represented the Mumbai South Central constituency. From 2017 to 2020, he had been the President of the Mumbai Congress committee.