Vilasrao Deshmukh

Personal life

Deshmukh was born on 26 May 1945 in Babhalgaon in Latur district in the present-day Maharashtra. After completing his School and College Education, he went to Pune University to study law. After passing out from the University, he began to practice law. He married his wife Vaishali in 1973 and has three sons - Amit Deshmukh, a former MLA in Maharashtra, Dheeraj Deshmukh and Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh. Riteish is married to actress Genelia D'Souza.

Political career

Deshmukh entered active politics and became a member of the Babhalgaon (Latur) Village Panchayat from 1974 to 1980 and its Sarpanch (village chief) from 1974 to 1976. He was a member of Osmanabad Zilla Parishad and Deputy Chairman of Latur Taluka Panchayat Samiti (Latur District Panchayat Committee) from 1974 to 1980. As the President of Osmanabad district Youth Congress from 1975 to 1978, he worked for the implementation of the Sanjay Gandhi inspired Five Point Programme of the Youth Congress. He organised the youth in Osmanabad district and became the President of District wing of the Congress (I) party.

He was a Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 1980 to 1995 winning the 1980, 1985, and 1990 elections. During this period, he served as the Minister of State and the Cabinet Minister and had the portfolios of the ministries of Home, General Administration, Cooperation, Public Works, Transport, Legislative Affairs, Tourism, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development Fisheries, Industry, Rural Development, Education, Technical Education, Sports and Youth Welfare.

He lost the election in 1995 by a margin of 35,000. He was re-elected to the State Legislature from Latur Constituency in the elections held in September 1999 with a strong comeback winning by a margin of nearly 91,000 in two successive elections, the highest in Maharashtra. He became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on 18 October 1999. He was Chief Minister until 17 January 2003, but had to step down in January 2003 and make way for Sushilkumar Shinde, following factionalism in the state unit of the party.

He was re-elected to the Legislative Assembly from Latur Constituency in October 2004. He became Chief Minister for the second time on 1 November 2004 – 4 December 2008.

He subsequently entered the Rajya Sabha and was appointed to the Council of Ministers as Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 28 May 2009. He was appointed as Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises on 19 January 2011 cabinet reshuffle. Later on he was appointed Minister of Rural Development. He was appointed as Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Earth Sciences on 12 July 2011.

26/11 attacks controversy and resignation

In the aftermath of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Public opinion had forced the Maharashtra state’s chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, and his deputy, the state home minister, R. R. Patil, to resign for being perceived as inept administrators and insensitive to the problems facing people in the state. He took the moral responsibility and offered to resign, which was then accepted by the party. The BJP leader of the opposition Sudhir Mungantiwar criticised him saying: "He has misused his position when he took Ram Gopal Varma (RGV) to the Taj (Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel) after the terror attack." He didn't resign because of the three RGV visits though.

Adarsh allegations

An affidavit filed in the Bombay High Court on 27 April 2012 alleges that Deshmukh might be owning two flats through proxies in the Adarsh housing society in Mumbai. The scam is pending for further investigation. Union Minister of Power Sushil Kumar Shinde, on 25 June, told a judicial panel the decision to allot government land and grant of additional Floor Space Index to the housing society was taken during Deshmukh's tenure as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

Involvement with Education Trusts

Deshmukh founded the Manjra Charitable Trust which runs a number of colleges in Latur & Mumbai. Some of them are Manajara Ayurvedic Medical College & Hospital Latur, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology at Versova, Andheri in Mumbai and Sushiladevi Deshmukh Vidyalaya at Airoli, Navi Mumbai. He also founded Marathwada Mitramandal under which there are two engineering colleges and one commerce college in Pune. and another one in Marathwada Mitra Mandal's Institute of Technology Lohegaon, Pune

Illness and death

Deshmukh was diagnosed with cirrhosis in summer 2011. Hints of his ailments, though kept in private, included the writing of his will and a general lack of previous warmth and tiredness at the weddings of his two sons, Riteish and Dheeraj. He was admitted to Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital in the first week of August 2012, where he was diagnosed with liver and kidney failure. He was flown to Chennai for a liver transplant by air ambulance on 6 August. Attempts to commence the liver transplant failed as a clinically dead man, whose liver and kidney were to be transplanted into Deshmukh, died the night before the operation. He died the following day on 14 August at 14:00 due to an apparent multiple organ failure. He died in the presence of his family.

Reactions included INC president Sonia Gandhi who said his death was a great loss to the party. President Pranab Mukherjee paid tribute and expressed grief, as did Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who called Deshmukh "a trusted colleague and an able administrator who worked at panchayat, state and central levels with admirable dedication." Maharashtra BJP opposition leader Prakash Javadekar reacted in saying: "It is a very sad news. He was warm-hearted and cheerful and always ready for helping (others). He had a vision for Maharashtra and was equally concerned about farmers and youngsters." Minister of State for Science and Technology Ashwani Kumar called Deshmukh a "great human being" who had an ability to connect with people and that "he was very unwell. We were hoping for his recovery. I am saddened, shocked." Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan said his death was "very unfortunate to lose such a promising leader at a young age." Janata Dal United (JDU) leader Sharad Yadav said his death resulted in a "lot of pain," while Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel said: "He had a long journey in public life. He was a big leader, a wise leader. He knew all parts of Maharashtra very well. It is great loss for the country and big loss for Maharashtra."

Other condolences came from Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Republican Party of India leader Ramdas Athawale. His death also elicited reaction from Bollywood, partly as a result of his son's career in filmdom. These included Madhuri Dixit, Karan Johar, Bipasha Basu, Dia Mirza and Raveena Tandon, as well as Shah Rukh Khan who called Deshmukh a "wonderful" gentleman and said "I'm feeling very sorry. I have known him (Vilasrao) for years. Riteish is a close friend of mine. I spoke to him. I am very sad, it is very unexpected."

His cremation took place on 15 August, India's Independence Day at Babhalgaon, his village, in Latur district.