Shalini Patil is the widow of Former Maharashtra Chief Minister,

Vasantdada Patil Vasantrao Banduji "Vasantdada" Patil (13 November 1917 – 1 March 1989) was an Indian politician from Sangli, Maharashtra. He was known as the first modern Maratha strongman and first mass leader in Maharashtrian politics. Patil served as C ...

. Mrs. Patil, more popularly known as Shalinitai, was also an important politician in her own right and held ministerial positions in the Congress party Governments of Maharashtra during the 1980s.

Early life and politics

Shalini Phalke was born in 1931 in a relatively poor family. Her father believed in female education. Shalini married Shyamrao Jadhav in the 1950s. She had four children with him and earned a law degree whilst married to him. Shalini entered politics when her children were young. Her first public position was as a member on Satara Zilla Parishad ( County Council). Later she was appointed as president of the women's wing of the MPCC (

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (or Maharashtra PCC) is the state unit of the Indian National Congress for the state of Maharashtra. The head office of the organization is situated in Dadar, Mumbai and administrative office in Colaba ...

) Shyamrao died in 1964 and shortly after his death, Shalini married

marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

politician

Political career

She held ministerial positions in the Congress party Governments of Maharashtra during the 1980s. In 1981, she was instrumental in getting the then chief minister A. R. Antulay to resign. Shalinitai became active in Maharashtra politics after marrying Vasantdada Patil. Later she represented Sangli constituency in the Indian parliament (

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

) during a period in the 1980s. She represented the constituency of

Koregaon Koregaon is a census town and headquarters for the surrounding Koregaon Taluka in the Satara subdivision of Satara district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated on the Satara- Pandarpur road about 18 km east of Satara ci ...

, Satara in the Maharashtra state legislative assembly, the (

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...

) from 1999 to 2009. Prior to that she unsuccessfully contested the seat in 1990 and 1995 for the Janata dal and as an independent respectively. During the 1970s, she founded a charity called Rajmata Jijau Pratishthan to raise funds for hospitals for the poor and women related activities. The charity was in the news for controversial granting of or purchase of land by the government for the charity. Mrs. Patil was well known for speaking her mind, particularly about rights for the Maratha community. During her career, she has campaigned for more seats for women in elected bodies. She has also criticized the Indian Central Government's move to extend 27.5 per cent reservation to OBCs in the central academic institutes such as

IITs The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are central government owned public technical institutes located across India. They are under the ownership of the Ministry of Education of the Government of India. They are governed by the Instit ...

and IIMs. Since her then party, the Nationalist Congress Party led by

Sharad Pawar Sharad Govindrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation: �əɾəd̪ pəʋaːɾ born 12 December 1940) is an Indian politician. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on four occasions. He has held the posts of Minister of Defence and Mini ...

supported this policy, Shalinitai was expelled from that party in 2006. In 2009, she launched a new party called Krantisena Maharashtra. The party did not attract much support and soon Shalinitai joined the Congress party.

References

Women in Maharashtra politics Living people India MPs 1980–1984 Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra People from Sangli district State cabinet ministers of Maharashtra Members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Maharashtra district councillors People from Satara district Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Maharashtra Marathi politicians 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians Women state cabinet ministers of India Year of birth missing (living people) {{Maharashtra-INC-politician-stub