Dilip Walse Patil, the man who replaced Ajit Pawar as NCP legislative party leader

Aged 63, Dilip Walse is considered to be close and trusted by NCP chief Sharad.

Pic courtesy: Facebook

The Nationalist Congress Party on Saturday removed Ajit Pawar as its legislature party leader after he joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party to form a government and took oath as the deputy chief minister of the state. 

Party sources revealed that the decision to sack Ajit Pawar was taken at a meeting, chaired by NCP chief Sharad Pawar. NCP appointed Dilip Walse Patil as the new legislature group leader. Patil is considered to be close and trusted by NCP chief Sharad.

Here's everything we know about Dilip Walse: 

Aged 63, Dilip Walse is a five-time Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He is currently serving his sixth term as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly after winning the 2014 polls. 

He has served as the Speaker of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from November 11, 2019 to November 2014. Walse has also served in Maharashtra government as a minister with different portfolios such as finance and planning, energy, higher and technical education and medical education.

He formerly headed the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Energy Ministry, Higher and Technical Education Ministry, and Medical Education Ministry, all as a Cabinet Minister from 1999-2009.

Walse-Patil comes from a political family. He started his political career as a PA to Sharad Pawar, the Maratha strongman. He defeated Kisanrao Bankhele in Ambegaon in 1990 to become a member of Maharashtra legislative assembly for the first time. 

At present, he is representing the Ambegaon constituency for sixth consecutive term.

Walse has also encouraged the setup of new engineering colleges by easing the approval process. Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation (MKCL) is his creation, which has more than 5000 MSCIT centers all over Maharashtra. 

He played a key role in the establishment of Government College of Engineering as well as Polytechnic and engineering in 2009 at Avsari (K).