Dilip Walse Patil replaces Anil Deshmukh as the new Maharashtra Home Minister

NCP leader Dilip Walse Patil followed Sharad Pawar out of the Congress party and joined the NCP, in 1999.

In a landmark move, NCP leader Anil Deshmukh on Monday resigned from the post of Maharashtra home minister over corruption allegations. Shortly after Deshmukh’s resignation, Veteran NCP leader Dilip Walse Patil stepped in to take over the post of Maharashtra home minister.

Who is Dilip Walse Patil?

Advertisement

Dilip Walse Patil is the son of former Congress MLA and Sharad Pawar’s friend Dattatray Walse Patil. The veteran leader started his career as Mr Pawar’s personal assistant.

Mr Patil is an MLA from Ambegaon and is currently the state Minister of Excise and Labour.

He won his first election as a Congress candidate from Ambegaon in 1990. In 1999, he followed Mr Pawar out of the Congress party and joined the NCP.

Mr Patil is a student of Law and he was a Speaker at a crucial time in the Maharashtra assembly, at a time when the unlikely coalition of Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress was in the making.

NCP leader Anil Deshmukh’s resignation was accepted by Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray after the Bombay High Court ordered a preliminary CBI investigation into allegations of corruption against him by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.

The court also directed the CBI to register an FIR if any offense was found and said Mr Deshmukh is the Home Minister and an impartial probe should be carried out by the police, reported NDTV.