Vilasrao Deshmukh dies at 67
Science & Tech Minister succumbs to liver cancer, kidney failure
Union Minister for Science and Technology and Minister of Earth Sciences, Vilasrao Deshmukh, died in a Chennai hospital today, following complications from liver and kidney failure. He was 67 years old and is survived by his wife Vaishali and three sons, including film star Reitesh Deshmukh.
The minister, who had been ailing for a while, was flown to Chennai for a liver transplant by air ambulance, after doctors at Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital diagnosed him with kidney failure and hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer). He was in the hospital for over a week and was conscious but has been on life-support in the intensive care unit. He died just a few hours befor he was to receive a liver and kidney transplant from a brain-dead man.
Born on May 26, 1945, in Babhalgaon, in Maharashtra's Latur district, Deshmukh belonged to the Maratha community. A science and arts graduate from Pune University, with additional qualifications in law, he entered politics by becoming a member of the Babhalgaon Village Panchayat between 1974-79, and its sarpanch between 1974-76.
He was also President of the Osmanabad District Youth Congress (1975-78), during which time he worked for the implementation of the five-point programme of the Youth Congress.
Deshmukh became a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in 1980 and held on to that position till 1995, winning the elections in 1980, 1985 and 1990. During his tenure as Minister of State and as Cabinet Minister, Deshmukh was in charge of a number of departments, includin Home, Public Works, Transport, Tourism, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development Fisheries, Industry, Rural Development, Education, Technical Education, Sports and Youth Welfare,
He lost the elections in 1995 with a margin of 35,000. He was re-elected to the State Legislature from Latur in the September 1999 elections with a margin of about 91,000. He became Chief Minister of Maharashtra in October 1999, but stepped down in January 2003 to make way for Sushilkumar Shinde following factionalism in the state unit of the Congress.
He assumed Chief Ministership again in November 2004, but had to quit in 2008 in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
He then entered the Rajya Sabha and was appointed to the Council of Ministers as Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises in May 2009. At the time of his death, he was Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Earth Sciences, a position he assumed in July 2011.
Both Houses of Parliament got adjourned for the day as a mark of respect for Deshmukh. The funeral will happen at his native place Babhalgaon.