Vasantdada Patil

Vasantrao Banduji Patil (13 November 1917 – 1 March 1989) was an Indian politician from Sangli, Maharashtra. He was known as the first modern Maratha strongman^[2] and first mass leader in Maharashtrian politics.

Vasantdada Patil
Governor of Rajasthan
In office 20 November 1985 – 15 October 1987
Preceded by	Om Prakash Mehra
Succeeded by	Sukhdev Prasad
Chief Minister of Maharashtra
In office 2 February 1983 – 3 June 1985
Preceded by	Babasaheb Bhosale
Succeeded by	Shivajirao Nilangekar Patil
In office 17 May 1977 – 18 July 1978
Preceded by	Shankarrao Chavan
Succeeded by	Sharad Pawar
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 1980–1983
Preceded by	Ganapati Gotkhinde
Succeeded by	Shalini Patil
Constituency	Sangli
Member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
In office 1978–1980
Preceded by	Pandurang Bapu Patil
Succeeded by	Shalini Patil
Constituency	Sangli
In office 1952–1967
Preceded by	Constituency created
Succeeded by	A. B. Birnale
Constituency	Sangli
Personal details
Born	Vasantrao Banduji Patil (1917-11-13)13 November 1917 Sangli, Bombay Presidency, British India
Died	1 March 1989(1989-03-01) (aged 71) Bombay, Maharashtra, India
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse(s)	Malatitai Patil Shalini Patil
Children	Prakashbapu Patil
Parent	Banduji Patil (father)
Relatives	Pratik Patil (grandson) Vishal Patil (grandson) [1]

Patil served as Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 17 May 1977 to 18 July 1978 and again from 2 February 1983 to 1 June 1985.^[3] He also served as the governor of Rajasthan for a little under two years from 1985 to 1987.^[4]

Personal life

Born on 13 November 1917 at 'Padmale' 3 km (1.9 mi) from Sangli, his native village. He studied up to the vernacular final. Then he became a farmer. His first wife, Malati-tai Patil died in 1960s. Soon later, he married Shalinitai Patil (then Shalini Jadhav before her second marriage) who was a widow herself with four children from her first marriage. She herself was a minister in Maharashtra in 1980s. Vasantdada did not have any children from his second marriage. His son from the first marriage with Malti-tai Patil, named Prakash Patil, represented Sangli in Lok Sabha. After Prakash Patil's death in 2005, his son (and Vasantdada's grandson) Pratik Patil became MP from Sangli twice.

Freedom fighter

Vasantdada was jailed by the British in the 1940s for his activity in the independence movement.^{[citation needed]}

Political career

He was Chief Minister of Maharashtra three times between 1976 and 1985.^{[citation needed]}

He was elected as a member of 7th Lok Sabha from Sangli (Lok Sabha constituency) in 1980.^[5]

Political and family connections

In 1985 he was embroiled in a public dispute with a Deputy Commissioner of BMC, G R Khairnar, for having demolished Patil's son's hotel "Step In". Khairnar eventually became a hero for taking on politicians, including Sharad Pawar. This dispute, meanwhile, discredited Congress rule and combined with other issues, gave the Shiv Sena-BJP combination an upper hand in subsequent elections.

His elder son Prakashbapu Vasantdada Patil and his grandson Pratik Prakashbapu Patil are former MPs from Sangli.

Vasantadada had a vast circle, but few close friends. Among these were Navale, Page, Charudatta (Charubhai) Shah, P Pandurang Kadam (Tatya), Sampatrao Mane and Vitthal Patil.

His second wife, Shalinitai Patil, is an MLA from Koregaon, Satara district. She joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 1999, but was expelled for her opposition to reservation of 27.5% for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in academic institutes such as Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institutes of Management (IIM). However, she later declared that Marathas were too big a community for any political party to displease, and said "... the economically backward classes across all communities should be given reservation. At least 50 per cent of Maharashtra's population needs quotas."

Vasantdada Patil died on 1 March 1989.

Recognition

Patil on a 2012 stamp of India

• Padma Bhushan award (1967).^[6]
• Padmabhushan Vasantdada Patil Pratishthan's College of Engineering in Mumbai is named in his honour.

See also

• Sharad Pawar
• Sundarrao Solanke
• Vilasrao Deshmukh