Photo: PTI
Veteran NCP leader and former Home Minister R.R. Patil (58), fondly known as Aba, breathed his last on Monday, at Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, after a prolonged illness. Patil, who was undergoing treatment for oral cancer at the hospital was on life support.
A crucial leader from Sangli, Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, Patil was operated in December last year at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. R.R. Patil was one of those very few politicians with a clean image.
He had served as the Home Minister and had to step down due to a remark he had made in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. He was also the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 1 November 2004 – 1 December 2008 and was succeeded by Chhagan Bhujbal. He was mentored by the former CM late Vasantdada Patil and later by NCP leader Sharad Pawar.
Patil is survived by his mother, wife and two daughters.
A state funeral would be accorded to Shri R.R Patil & a day long mourning would be observed tomorrow said Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “My thoughts are with Shri RR Patil’s family. (I) am saddened to know of his demise, which leaves a void in Maharashtra politics.”
Born on August 16, 1957, R.R. Patil came from a farmer’s family in Anjanigaon, Tasgaon Taluka of western Maharashtra’s Sangli district. He was elected to Zilla Parishad since 1979 till 1990 when he was first elected to the state assembly. He represented the Tasgaon-Kavathe Mahankal assembly constituency, six times in a row from 1990 till 2014.
Patil was praised for taking up the guardian ministership for the Maoist-hit Gadchiroli district to tackle the extremists.
(With input from Suyash Karangutkar)
Tags: R R Patil
