Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Dilip Walse Patil, who took charge as Maharashtra’s new home minister Tuesday, is vastly different from his predecessor Anil Deshmukh.
Deshmukh resigned Monday after the Bombay High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe extortion allegations against him.
The 64-year-old Walse Patil is non-controversial, low profile and shy of being under constant limelight unlike Deshmukh who loved giving media bytes, sometimes making statements that he later had to retract, and who even had a habit of announcing investigations in front of the camera.
Political watchers say this is perhaps why the NCP picked Walse Patil as Deshmukh’s replacement at a time when the home department is mired in controversies over police postings, alleged interference in investigations and extortion.
“Walse Patil will not be someone who will go before cameras a lot. That’s not in his nature. He will not be seen shining,” political commentator Pratap Asbe said. “But he will silently perform. He has had a decent record of governance in all the departments that he has handled so far.”
He added: “He (Walse Patil) has a clean image that is fit for the post and fit for the circumstances as well.”
Deshmukh has been facing allegations, levelled by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh, that he instructed senior police officers to collect Rs 100 crore a month from the city’s bars and restaurants.
NCP Minister and spokesperson Nawab Malik said, “He (Patil) is a senior party leader, has had extensive experience in the cabinet, he has ample administrative experience, so the party decided to ask him to take up the job.” He added that there weren’t any other candidates that the party considered.
“What the party expects from him now are the priorities that he himself stated when he took over the post — bring discipline and strengthen the police cadre, shun political interference in administrative matters and so on.”
‘Some senior NCP faces controversial for home department’
When portfolios were first allocated soon after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s formation in November 2019, the first choice for the home minister’s post was Ajit Pawar, the party’s second-most significant leader after his uncle and founder president Sharad Pawar.
A source in the NCP, however, said Ajit Pawar opted out in light of the irrigation scam probe against him.
Walse Patil was asked next. However, he had excused himself citing health reasons and was also seen as being too mellow for the high-profile, high-visibility post.
State NCP president Jayant Patil, also senior enough for the home department, wanted to try out a different portfolio. Sharad Pawar had then ultimately picked Deshmukh, his loyalist and a face from Vidarbha.
“Like Ajit Pawar, some other senior leaders are too controversial for the post of home minister,” political analyst Hemant Desai said. “For instance, Chhagan Bhujbal, had been embroiled in a money laundering case and was behind bars for sometime, while Jitendra Awhad was pulled into a controversy last year when an engineer was beaten up at his bungalow.”
Deshmukh was no stranger to controversy. His home department faced flak for putting under quarantine Bihar Police officers visiting Maharashtra to probe actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. He also clamped down on allegedly offensive social media posts against the government and the chief minister and was also involved in rifts with the CM over issues such as transfers of deputy commissioners of police and lockdown guidelines.
The state home ministry had also filed multiple cases against Republic TV founder Arnab Goswami and Deshmukh had announced probes into certain tweets by celebrities such as Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar.
Walse Patil’s political journey
Walse Patil, son of former Congress MLA Dattatray Walse Patil, first started working as Pawar’s personal assistant. Known to be close to the NCP president, he followed Pawar into the NCP.
A seven-time MLA, Walse Patil contested his first election in 1990, first became minister in the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led cabinet in 1999 and has since held portfolios such as power, medical education, higher and technical education, finance, planning.
He is especially known for some of his decisions to address the state’s power shortage, and splitting the Maharashtra State Electricity Board into four different companies. He also played a major role in the formation of Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation, which increased computer literacy in the state.
Walse Patil has also worked as the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker from 2009 to 2014 and is currently also president of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Limited.
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