The doctor with a sugar problem

It all started in 1970 when Sharad Pawar spotted Dr Patil,an ordinary medical practitioner,and brought him into politics. He became a member of the Osmanabad zilla parishad and in 1978,was elected to the state Assembly from the constituency.

Pawar rewarded his “blue-eyed boy” with a place in his Cabinet and in 1986,Patil became the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly. In the next few years,he held plum portfolios like Irrigation,Energy and Home. By marrying his sister to Pawar’s nephew and now Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Ajit Pawar,Patil cemented ties with his mentor.

His proximity to influential and powerful people,however,hardly helped Osmanabad,which remains one of the most backward areas in the state. Nearby areas of Latur and Solapur developed more in comparison to Osmanabad.

Patil or ‘Doctor’,as he is known in his circle,was a wrestler and a fitness freak,and not without a reason. He was said to intimidate his opponents with his physical strength and managed to stifle virtually all political opposition until it rose from the most unexpected quarters — his aide and cousin Pawanraje Nimbalkar.

The two drew swords after the P B Sawant Commission,inquiring into corruption charges levelled by social activist Anna Hazare,indicted Patil for corrupt practices and maladministration in the management of the Terna cooperative sugar factory. The report said Patil tried to force Vilas Pawar,an employee of the sugar factory,to make statements against Nimbalkar who was Osmanabad district central cooperative bank chairman from 1996 to 2002. The report widened the difference between the two cousins to unbridgeable limits.

Patil was dropped from the Cabinet and his son Rana Jagjitsinh Patil,Minister of State for Revenue in the present Ashok Chavan Government,was sworn in. Patil was known to patronise his family members. His nephew Rahul Maharudra Mote is an NCP MLA from Paranda.

Patil began to see Nimbalkar as a serious political threat after the latter,contesting as an independent,gave him a neck-to-neck fight in the 2004 Assembly elections. Though Patil scraped through with 484 votes,helped partly by rumours that Nimbalkar had withdrawn from the fray in his favour,the result was a shock to the man who had never lost a major election except the 1984 Lok Sabha polls from Latur.

In 2006,Nimbalkar,who had joined the Congress,was gunned down. But that was not the end of worries for Patil. Nimbalkar’s son Omprakashraje upped the ante against Patil and managed to wrest control of the Terna sugar mill from him after almost three decades. The downslide had begun for Patil.

Patil,however,rebounded and defeated Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Gaikwad from Osmanabad in the recent Lok Sabha polls. There were reports that he was one of the contenders for a Cabinet berth in the new UPA Government. But instead of a ministerial bungalow in Lutyens Delhi,Patil had to settle for a dingy room in the Vashi APMC police station.

The fairy tale had come to a bitter ending.