Deshmukh hailed as pragmatic politician
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He was a star campaigner, a powerful orator and tallest leader after Mr Sharad Pawar who had following acorss Maharashtra.
Vilasrao Deshmukh remained on the political pitch for nearly four decades. Known for his sharp sense of wit and humour, his political comments had bacame headlines in the media.
He was a regional satrap who enjoyed working in the state, built up institutions in cooperative sector and in education.
His was a third generation of the Congress after Y.B. Chavan,Vasantdada Patil and S.B. Chavan which had strengthen its support base through works in the cooperative sector, administrative skill and mass contact.
A soft spoken, modern Vilasrao was not a traditional Congress leader seen in “dhoti, kurta and Gandhi cap” but had always been in a modern dress. He was a familiar face in rural, semi urban and urban Maharashtra.
He had made friends cutting across the party line. Maharashtra knows his friendship with BJP heavyweight Gopinath Munde. And he was comfortable with Sharad Pawar contrary to the perception that he was in the opposit camp.
In fact, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had involved Vilasrao in the backdrop talks with Anna Hazare at the instance Sharad Pawar in 2011. This strategy had worked well and Anna broke his fast at Ramlila Grounds in New Delhi within a couple of days.
He had headed the first Congress led coalition government in Maharashtra after the defeat of the Shiv Sena-BJP combine in 1999. And was the chief minister for over eight years (1999-2003 and 2004-08).
He was the second Congress chief minister after late V.P. Naik to remain in power so long. People saw in him the chief ministerial material when Vilasrao was the minister of state in the Vasantdada Patil government.
He was elected to the Maharashtra legislative Assembly from Latur (Marathwada region)
in 1980 and became a minister of state within two years in the Babasaheb Bhosale government.
Although he was seen as a protégé of late S.B. Chavan who made him virtually Number 2
in his government after 1986, he had enjoyed confidence of Vasantdada and was equally popular in Western Maharashtra and Vidarbha regions.
Vilasrao who was educated in Pune,began his political career as a member of Osmanabad zilla parishdad in 1974.
Later, he became the “sarpanch” of his native village Babhalgaon panchayat, then deputy chairman of Latur taluka panchayat samiti. After working at taluka level for six years, he fought the Assembly election in 1980 from Latur. He was the Congress Working committee member and was in-charge of the party affairs in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh.
After he entered the Rajya Sabha, he was inducted as Union minister for heavy industries and public enterprises and later as minister for Rural Development.
He was appointed as minister of science and technology and minister of earth sciences on July 12, 2011.
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