Former Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil
RR Patil, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, has died at 57.
He was being treated at Mumbai's Lilavati hospital for cancer. Mr Patil, six-term MLA from Tasgaon in Sangli district, is survived by his mother, wife, and two daughters.
Mr Patil was among the longest serving home ministers of Maharashtra and was also one of the most powerful ministers in the Congress-led coalition that ruled the state till last year.
Admired for his clean image and easy accessibility, Mr Patil was among the top rung leaders of NCP. Mr Patil's body was kept at NCP office in Mumbai where top party leaders and others paid homage to him. State Congress Chief Manikrao Thakre, party leader and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, RPI leader Ramdas Athawale also visited the NCP office to pay their respect.
His funeral will take place at his native Anjani village at 1 pm on Tuesday, NCP sources said.
The Nationalist Congress Party leader had an angiography surgery last month.
Fondly called 'Aaba' in political circles, he was considered very close to NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
Mr Patil was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the first time in 1990 and appointed Rural Development Minister in the Congress-NCP government in 1999. He was allotted the important Home portfolio in 2003 after the then Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who held it, resigned in the wake of allegations of his involvement in the Telgi scam. He was made Deputy Chief Minister in 2004.
He had to step down as Home Minister after outrage over his remarks on the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai; he had said, "Small incidents do happen in big cities."
Mr Patil was appointed Home Minister for a second time in 2009 after the Congress-NCP combine retained power in the state.
He was also the man behind the controversial decision to ban dance bars in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra.