Dilip Walse-Patil


Dilip Walse-Patil is an Indian politician, from Ambegaon, Maharashtra, and a six-time Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He is currently serving as Minister of Excise and Labour Department in Government of Maharashtra. 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.
He is currently serving as the President of National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Limited.

Career

Walse-Patil is a member of the Nationalist Congress Party, and known to be a close associate of party President Sharad Pawar. Walse-Patil earlier served in the Government of Maharashtra as a minister with different portfolios such as Finance and Planning, Energy, Higher and Technical Education, and Medical Education.
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 still representing the same constituency for sixth consecutive term.
Apart from the energy portfolio, Walse Patil also held the education portfolio in the Maharashtra cabinet. He implemented changes to make the admission procedure for medical seats, more transparent. His also encouraged the setup of new engineering colleges by easing the approval process. Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation 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.