Former union minister Shivraj Patil passes away at 90

MUMBAI: Former union home minister and senior Congress leader Shivraj Patil passed away. He was 90. He died Friday morning at 6:30 am in Maharashtra’s Latur. He was at home due to old age issues.

He was a former Speaker of the Lok Sabha and had handled important portfolios in the union cabinet. Patil had retained the Latur Lok Sabha seat for seven consecutive times.
Born on October 12, 1935 in Latur as the son of Vishwanath Rao and Bhagirathi Bhai, he completed his primary education and obtained a BSc from Osmania University, Hyderabad and a law degree from Bombay University. He entered the Legislative Assembly from Latur in 1972.

He held the posts of a minister and speaker. He first entered the Lok Sabha in 1980. He entered the Lok Sabha seven times consecutively. He was a union minister till 1989. He also served as the Lok Sabha Speaker from 1991 to 1996. He had been away from politics for a long time due to health issues.

While serving as the minister, he had resigned after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, taking moral responsibility for the security lapses. He had served as the Governor of Punjab and Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh from 2010 to 2015.