Vilasrao Deshmukh

This biography of a living person does not cite any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. (October 2009) Find sources: (Vilasrao Deshmukh – news, books, scholar)

Vilasrao Dagadojirao Deshmukh विलासराव दगडोजीराव देशमुख
Vilasrao Deshmukh
Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
Incumbent
Assumed office  28 May 2009
President	Pratibha Patil
Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh
Chief Minister of Maharashtra
In office 7 September 2004 – 5 December 2008
Chief Minister of Maharashtra
In office 18 October 1999 – 16 January 2003
Born	26 May 1945 (1945-05-26) (age 64) India
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse(s)	Vaishali Deshmukh
Children	3
Occupation	Lawyer
Religion	Hinduism

Vilasrao Dagadojirao Deshmukh (Marathi: विलासराव दगडोजीराव देशमुख) (born May 26, 1945) is the current Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Government of India. He is member of Rajya Sabha representing Maharashtra. He was also a two-time Chief Minister of Maharashtra, from 1999 to 2003 and from 2004 to 2008. He is a member of the Indian National Congress and originally belongs to Latur district in the Marathwada region of the state of Maharashtra.

Early life and family

Deshmukh was born on May 26, 1945 in Babhalgaon in the Latur district. He graduated with a degree in Science (B.Sc.) and Arts (B.A.) from M.E.S Abasaheb Garware College, (Pune University) and went on to study law (L.L.B.) from the ILS Law College (Pune University). He started social activities in his early youth with particular interest in drought relief work. He was elected as the Director of the Osmanabad district Central Cooperative Bank and also of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank in 1979.

His wife is Vaishali Deshmukh, and he has three sons from her, Amit, Ritesh and Dheeraj. His son Ritesh Deshmukh is a popular actor in Bollywood movies.

He has one younger brother Diliprao Deshmukh, Minister of Relief, Rehabilitation, Sports, Youth Welfare and Protocol. in the Maharashtra Government.

Political career

Deshmukh entered active politics and became member of the Babhalgaon Village Panchayat from 1974 to 1979 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 a President of Osmanabad District Youth Congress from 1975 to 1978, he worked for the implementation of Five Point Programme of the Youth Congress. He organised the youth in Osmanabad district and became President of District wing of the Indian National Congress.

He was Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 1980 to 1995. During this period, as the Minister of State and the Cabinet Minister, Deshmukh handled departments such as 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 elections in1995 with 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 with a margin of nearly 91,000 in two successive election, the highest in Maharashtra. He took oath as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on October 18, 1999. He was Chief Minister till 17 January 2003, but had to step down in January 2003 and make way for Sushilkumar Shinde, a prominent Dalit member of Congress, following factionalism in the state unit of the party.

He was re-elected to the State Legislative Assembly from Latur Constituency in the Elections held in October 2004.

He has been a minister in various governments in Maharashtra from 1982 to 1995 holding portfolios of revenue, cooperation, agriculture, home, industries and education.

He took oath of Chief Ministership for the second time on November 1, 2004. In the aftermath of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Deshmukh resigned after the controversial visit to Taj Hotel with Film Director Ram Gopal Varma on 2 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 Dr Manmohan Singh on 28 May 2009.

Foreign Tour

Deshmukh had an opportunity to visit Japan, Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong in 1980, to study Cooperative Movement in Amsterdam, Netherland and Agricultural Development. He also visited West Germany, France, England, United States and Japan in 1981. As the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, he led an official delegation in May 2000, to U.S.A. and UK and visited New York, Los Angeles, San Jose, Washington and London to interact with the investors to bring investment to Maharashtra.

Manjra Project

From April 1995 to October 17, 1999, Vilasrao kept himself engaged in expansion of the Manjra Co-op. Sugar Mill. The Mill established a world record in 1994-95 and in 1997-98 by crushing the highest quantity of sugarcane^{[citation needed]}. It has won 34 awards on national and international level for excellence in production and management^{[citation needed]}.

Educational activities

Deshmukh founded the Manjra Charitable Trust which runs a number of colleges in Latur & Mumbai. Some of them are Manjara Ayurvedic College & Hospital, Latur, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology at Versova, Andheri in Mumbai and Sushiladevi Deshmukh Vidyalaya at Airoli, Navi Mumbai.

His interests include reading, classical music, volleyball and table tennis.

Mumbai Cricket Association

Deshmukh has been elected unopposed as Vice President of the Mumbai Cricket Association (2009-2011), Election held on 10th July 2009.