Jayant Patil: Difference between revisions

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'''Jayant Rajaram Patil''' (born 16 February 1962) is an Indian politician from the state of [[Maharashtra]]. He has been representing [[Islampur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)]] in the [[Maharashtra Legislative Assembly]] for more than 3 decades. He is the Cabinet Minister of the Water Resources Department in [[Uddhav Thackeray ministry]]. Previously he has been the Rural Development Minister (2009 to 2014), the Finance Minister (1999 to 2008) and the Home Minister (2008 to 2009) of Maharashtra.<ref>"R R Patil Back As Maharashtra Home Minister". The Hindu, 2009, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/R-R-Patil-back-as-Maharashtra-Home-Minister/article16890980.ece. Accessed 12 Mar 2018.</ref>

Jayant Patil is the younger son of former Maharashtra Cabinet Minister and celebrated veteran Congress leader, Rajarambapu Patil. He was named ‘jayant’ meaning victorious, since he was born shortly after his father’s first electoral victory in the [[1962 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election]].<ref name="Who will be the next home minister?">{{cite news|last=|first=|date=|title=Election Commission of India|newspaper=|location=|url=https://eci.gov.in/files/file/3714-maharashtra-1962/|url-status=dead|access-date=4 December 2010}}</ref><ref name="Maharashtra portfolios: Ajit Pawar gets finance">{{cite news|last=|first=|date=|title=Gadgil, Makarand|work=|publisher=|location=|url=https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/civic/ncp-looks-to-former-finance-minister-jayant-patil-to-steer-the-ship/articleshow/63965426.cms|url-status=live|access-date=4 December 2010}}</ref> Jayantrao completed his Bachelors in Civil Engineering from the [[Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute]] and subsequently left to pursue his Masters’ Degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA. Unfortunately, after the sudden death of Rajarambapu Patil in 1984, Jayant Patil had to return from the USA.<ref name="Maharashtra portfolios: Ajit Pawar gets finance" /> After returning to his home town he preferred not to contest any parliamentary election and became involved in social work through his father’s cooperative organisations. With the determination and persistence of the people, he was unanimously elected the President of the Kasegaon Education Society and the Chairman of the Walwa Sugar Cooperation in the same year.<ref>{{cite news|last=|first=|date=|title=Result University-Walva Constituency|work=|url=https://resultuniversity.com/election/walva-maharashtra-assembly-constituency|url-status=live|access-date=2 October 2017}}</ref>

After working around six years in the overall development of the Sangli area, Patil was given a ticket to contest the State Legislative Assembly elections from Walwa at the age of 28.

Patil contested the [[1990 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election]] on an [[Indian National Congress]] ticket from [[Walva (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Walwa]] in the [[Sangli District]]. Since then, he has represented Islampur-Walwa constituency 7 times, i.e. 30 years with an average margin of 62,000.<ref>{{cite news|last=|first=|date=|title=News18|work=|url=https://www.news18.com/news/politics/jayant-patil-in-islampur-election-results-2019-live-updates-2359323.html|url-status=live|access-date=2 October 2017}}</ref>

In response Pawar and Sangma founded the [[Nationalist Congress Party]] in June 1999. Despite the falling out, the new party aligned with the Congress party to form a coalition government in Maharashtra after the [[1999 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election]] to prevent the Shiv Sena-BJP combine from returning to power.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Suhas Palshikar, Nitin Birmal and Vivek Ghotale|date=|title=Coalitions in Maharashtra Political fragmentation or Social Reconfiguration?|url=|journal=CAS Occasional Paper Series|volume=|pages=14|via=}}</ref> Sharad Pawar, however, did not return to state politics and [[Vilasrao Deshmukh]] of Congress was chosen as Chief Minister, with [[Chagan Bhujbal]] representing the NCP as the Deputy Chief Minister along with Home Affairs and Jayant Patil as the [[Finance Minister]].

In his 10-year stint as the finance Minister from 1999-2008, Patil took firm steps to strengthen the State’s finances like delinking dearness allowance paid to the State Government from the Central Government, appointing a committee of secretaries to probe the issues of excess State Government staff and acting and abolishing many posts in the State Government. He also tried to delay the implementation of the 6th Pay Commission as much as possible. Taking advantage of falling interest rates, Jayant Patil also raised fresh loans to retire high cost debts. All these measures reduced the State Government’s expenditure on items like salary, pension and interest from 75 percent of the total expenditure to around 60 percent.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gadgil|first=Makrand|date=2018|title=Mumbai Mirror|url=https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/civic/ncp-looks-to-former-finance-minister-jayant-patil-to-steer-the-ship/articleshow/63965426.cms|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}</ref>

In 2009, Jayant Patil was sworn in as the Rural Development Minister in the [[Second Ashok Chavan ministry]] and continued with the same in the [[Prithviraj Chavan ministry]].<ref>{{cite news|author=|first=|date=9 November 2009|title=PTI|newspaper=India Today|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/assembly-elections-2009/maharashtra/story/list-of-cabinet-ministers-in-maharashtra-60415-2009-11-09|url-status=live|access-date=}}</ref> His tenure as the Rural Development Minister till 2014 saw some pioneering works including the implementation of E-Panchayats, the improvement of e-banking services in rural Maharashtra and development of sustainable eco-villages.<ref>{{cite news|author=|first=|date=10 May 2011|title=PTI|newspaper=Economic Times|url=http://www.mid-day.com/articles/an-aerial-journey/121411|url-status=live|access-date=20 October 2013}}</ref> The Eco-Villages Scheme was a grand plan in line to [[climate change mitigation|combat climate change]] and to improve the development and preservation of villages in Maharashtra. The programme involved uplifting the environmental standard of villages and plan their infrastructural development to avoid haphazard constructions. Villages qualified for the scheme received a lump sum fund every year to be used in various development capacities. Jayant Patil toured Maharashtra for the outreach of the scheme and conducted 120 meetings with villagers across Maharashtra. This scheme significantly improved the tax collection from villages across the State and championed the plantation of over 1 crore trees.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Menon|first=Meera|date=7 March 2011|title=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/Maharashtra-village-fights-climate-change-using-Eco-programme/article13675710.ece?homepage=true|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}</ref>

In the [[2014 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election]], NCP was reduced to just 41 seats, their biggest defeat till date and was in the Opposition benches almost after a decade. Jayant Patil retained his constituency and soon became NCP’s leading speaker in the Assembly, regularly opening debates and keeping a strong tone on the Government. In 2018 he was unanimously elected as the State President of NCP replacing Sunil Tatkare.<ref name="IE_Uddhav">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=29 April 2018|title=First Post|url=https://www.firstpost.com/politics/former-maharashtra-home-minister-jayant-patil-elected-president-of-ncp-state-unit-4449975.html|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}</ref> Patil had the uphill battle of reorganizing and delivering a better result in the 2019 Assembly Elections. Going into the elections, the NCP and INC alliance was not touted to do well, and the entire burden of campaigning and outreach fell on NCP solely. In August 2019, Jayant Patil launched and spearheaded the Shiv Swarajya Yatra from Shivneri, the birthplace of Chharapati Shivaji, at Junnar, Pune.<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|date=7 August 2019|title=Express News Service|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/mumbai-ncp-flags-off-shiv-swarajya-yatra-5884142/|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=16 March 2020|work=Indian Express}}</ref> In the [[2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election]], BJP won 105 seats, SHS won 56, NCP won 54 seats and INC won 42 seats. A political crisis ensued in the post-poll period. With no political party able to prove their majority in the legislative assembly, president's rule was imposed in the state following a recommendation by the Governor of Maharashtra Bhagat Singh Koshyari.<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|date=12 November 2019|title=Maharashtra Live News|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/maharashtra-news-live-awaiting-congresss-response-cant-decide-alone-says-ncp/liveblog/72000247.cms|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=16 March 2020|work=The Times of India}}</ref> The President's rule was later revoked and the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by former Chief Minister [[Devendra Fadnavis]], formed a government with the help of a small fraction of the Nationalist Congress Party, led by Ajit Pawar.<ref>{{cite news|last=Vyas|first=Sharad|date=23 November 2019|title=Rashmi Thackeray: Mrs Surefire|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/devendra-fadnavis-takes-oath-as-maharashtra-cm-ajit-pawar-as-deputy-cm/article30058482.ece|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=16 March 2020|work=The Hindu}}</ref> After three days, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar resigned. A new government was formed by the [[Maha Vikas Aghadi]], a new alliance of Shiv Sena, the Indian National Congress, and the Nationalist Congress Party with Uddhav Thackeray as the Chief Minister. Jayant Patil was one of the was among the first 6 to be sworn-in in the MVA Government.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=26 November 2019|title=NDTV|url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/devendra-fadnavis-resigns-as-maharashtra-chief-minister-ahead-of-floor-test-tomorrow-2138939|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}}</ref> He became a Cabinet Minister for the 4th time with the portfolio of Water Resources & Command Area Development.

In June 2020, in celebration of 21 years of NCP, Jayant Patil under the guidance of Sharad Pawar, launched the Rashtravadi Paksh Abhipray, an internal party digital feedback campaign. It was a flagship campaign where the party digitally reached out to almost 10 lac NCP members to amass their feedback and suggestions.

Rajarambapu Patil was a noted educationist and philanthropist in his own right and started the Kasegaon Education Society. From as early as 1955, he implemented numerous social development initiatives such as buildings for schools, drinking water wells, homes for poor, banking services, jobs for youth, etc. which had direct benefits for the masses of the area. Following in his father’s footsteps, Jayant Patil’s involvement with socio-development works in the Sangli area started before his political career.