Shivraj Patil

Shivraj Vishwanath Patil
Minister for Home Affairs
In office 22 May 2004 – 30 November 2008
Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh
Preceded by	Lal Krishna Advani
Succeeded by	P. Chidambaram
Speaker of Lok Sabha
In office 10 July 1991 – 22 May 1996
Preceded by	Rabi Ray
Succeeded by	P.A. Sangma
Minister of Defence
In office 15 January 1980 – 2 December 1989
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi
Preceded by	Pranab Mukherjee
Succeeded by	Shankarrao Chavan
Personal details
Born	(1935-10-12) October 12, 1935 Latur, Maharashtra, India
Political party	Indian National Congress
Occupation	Politician

Shivraj Vishwanath Patil (born October 12, 1935) is an Indian politician and a member of the Rajya Sabha. Previously he had been the Speaker of the 11^th Lok Sabha and served the Manmohan Singh cabinet as the Union Minister of Home Affairs. He has also served the Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi cabinets as the defence minister during the 80's. He resigned from the post of Home-Minister on November 30, 2008 following wide-spread critism raised after terrorist attacks on Mumbai. He resigned taking the moral responsibility for the attacks.

Early life

Patil was born in 1935 in the village of Chakur in the Latur district (Marathwada region) of Maharashtra. He attended Osmania University, Hyderabad, earning a graduation degree in Science and studied Law at Bombay University. During 1967-69, he was involved in local government (Latur Municipality).

Patil belongs to the Lingayat community. He married to Smt. Vijaya Patil in June 1963.

In State Politics

Between 1972-79, he was member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for two terms during which time he held various positions such as Chairman of Public Undtertakings Committee, Deputy Minister (Las & Judiciary, Irrigation, Protocol), Deputy Speaker of the Assembly and Speaker of the Assembly.

In Central Politics

In 1980, he got elected to the 7th Lok Sabha. By 1999 (13th Lok Sabha), he had won seven successive Lok Sabha elections.

In government

First inducted in the Indira Gandhi-led government in as Minister of State for Defence (1980-82), he was given independent charge of the Commerce Ministry (1982-83), from where he was shifted to Science and Technology, Atomic Energy, Electronics, Space and Ocean Development (1983-84).

During 1983-86, he was Vice President of CSIR India. He also served on various committees including those on Defence, External Affairs, Finance, Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament.

In the Rajiv Gandhi government, he was Minister for Personnel, Defence production and later held independent charge of Civil Aviation and Tourism.

He has also held a number of important positions in the party ever since Sonia Gandhi took over the presidency of the party. He is largely known for introducing the The Outstanding Parliamentarian Award, India in 1995. He was the chairman of the manifesto committee of the party during the 1999 Lok Sabha election.

As speaker of the Lok Sabha, he had begun or contributed in initiatives on information dissemination to members of the Parliament (through computerisation and modernisation), construction of Parliament Library Building and broadcast of Loksabha proceedings, including live broadcast of Question Hour of both houses of the parliament.

Between 1991-1995, he was a member / leader of Indian parliamentary delegations to various international parliamentary conferences.

After Indian General Election 2004

He became Home Minister in 2004. A former Lok Sabha speaker, Shivraj Patil lost in the 2004 polls from Latur constituency in Maharashtra, but has still landed up the second most important position in the Union Cabinet -- that of the Home Minister. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in July 2004.

Patil's name was considered a likely candidate in 2007 presidential election. However, after the Left parties opposed his candidature, Sonia Gandhi proposed Pratibha Patil, Governor of Rajasthan, as the presidential candidate. Shivraj Patil was later considered a possible candidate for the post of Vice President of India. His extensive parliamentary experience and his reputation for fairness were said to be the main advantages on his side.

On 30 November 2008 Shivraj Patil resigned from his position of Home Minister in Union Cabinet taking moral responsibility of the security lapse that lead to the November 2008 Terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Controversies

He was ridiculed in the local media for changing his clothes three times in the three hours following the Delhi bomb blasts of September 2008.

He consistently refused to revive tough anti terror laws like POTA.