Mumbai, Dec 25: From a Sarpanch of a gram panchayat to Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, it has been a long political journey for Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil. The senior NCP leader, who has carved out a niche for himself in the state's co-operative sector, became the Sarpanch of Akluj gram panchayat in Solapur district of western Maharashtra at the young age of 19 in 1961 and continued to hold the post till 1972.
Born on June 12, 1944, Mohite-Patil, son of co-operative sector stalwart, Shankarrao Mohite-Patil, took a plunge into the active politics by joining Congress in 1962.
He went on to head the Solapur Zilla Parishad before entering the state assembly from Malshiras by a record victory margin of over 64,000 in 1980.
The same year, Mohite-Patil was inducted into the Babasaheb Bhosle Ministry as Minister of State for Agriculture, Tourism and Youth Affairs.
Since 1980, he is member of the state assembly from Malshiras, a constituency nursed by him and was an integral part of every Congress ministry.
Mohite-Patil, currently holding the charge of PWD ministry, does not share a comfortable relationship with the Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who also hails from Solapur district. Incidentally, for the first time in the state's history both chief minister and deputy chief belonged to the same district.
Shinde, before taking over as the Chief Minister on January 18, 2003, in a bid to patch up with Mohite-Patil, went to meet him at the latter's official residence.
Mohite-Patil displayed his influence in Solapur district politics recently when his brother Pratapsinh Mohite-Patil contesting on a BJP ticket humbled Congress' Anandrao Deokate in the Lok Sabha by-election.
There were reports that Mohite-Patil was sulking because he was not made the Deputy Chief Minister in 1999 after the DF came to power despite getting maximum votes in the NCP legislature wing meeting.
The powerful Maratha lobby which wields considerable influence over NCP was said to have been unhappy after the party president Sharad Pawar made Chhagan Bhujbal, a "Mali" community leader, the Deputy Chief Minister.
Ahead of next year's assembly elections, appointment of Mohite-Patil as the Deputy Chief Minister would certainly placate the "Maratha lobby" of the party, political observers feel.
Mohite-Patil was among the first few Congress leaders who left Congress to join Sharad Pawar's NCP.
He played an instrumental role in the party's spectacular performance in the 1999 assembly elections in western Maharashtra.