Shankarrao Chavan

Shankarrao Bhaorao Chavan (born July 14, 1920 in Paithan , Aurangabad District , British India , today: Maharashtra ; † February 26, 2004 in Mumbai ) was an Indian politician of the Indian National Congress (INC), who between 1975 and 1977 and again from 1986 to 1988 Chief Minister of Maharashtra was. In addition, he was a member of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and several times Union Minister.

Life

Lawyer and Chief Minister of Maharashtra

Chavan, son of Bhaurao Chavan, completed a law degree after attending school and was involved in student organizations. He graduated first with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and then with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.). He then worked as a lawyer before he let this activity rest because of his involvement in the Quit Court Movement against the Nizam of the then Princely State of Hyderabad . In the mid-1950s he began his political commitment to the Indian National Congress (INC), for which he was initially elected to the legislative assembly of the then state of Bombay in 1956 . After the founding of the resulting state of Maharashtra on May 1, 1960, he became a member of the Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) of Maharashtra and was a member of it for twenty years until 1980.

In 1960 Chavan first became Vice Minister for Taxes in the government of Bombay. Shortly thereafter, he became Minister for Irrigation and Energy in 1960 and then Minister for Irrigation, Energy and Electricity in the government of Maharashtra in 1962 and 1967. Subsequently, in 1967 he became deputy of the INC group in the legislative assembly of Maharashtra. On February 20, 1975, he succeeded Vasantrao Phulsing Naik himself for the first time as Chief Minister of Maharashtra and held this office until he was replaced by Vasantrao Patil on March 31, 1977. After he temporarily joined the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) from Sharad Pawar affiliated, he rejoined the INC in 1980 and was a member of its AICC (All India Congress Committee) presidium and the party's executive committee in Maharashtra.

Member of the Lok Sabha and Union Minister

In the early parliamentary elections on January 3 and 6, 1980 , Chavan was elected a member of the Lok Sabha for the INC in the Lok Sabha constituency of Nanded for the first time and belonged to this after his re-election in the parliamentary elections on December 24, 27 and 28 1984 until his resignation in 1986.

On October 19, 1980, Chavan was appointed Minister of Education, Culture and Social Welfare in the Indira Gandhi III cabinet and held this ministerial office until August 8, 1981. After a cabinet reshuffle, he served from August 8, 1981 to July 19 1984 as planning minister as well as deputy chairman of the planning commission. After another government reshuffle, he was minister without portfolio between July 19, 1984 and August 2, 1984, before taking on the post of Minister of Defense on August 2, 1984. After the assassination of Indira Gandhi from November 4 to December 31, 1984, he also held the post of defense minister in the subsequent cabinet of Rajiv Gandhi . After the government was reorganized, he was Minister of the Interior between December 31, 1984 and March 12, 1986.

Second term as Chief Minister, member of the Rajya Sabha and return to the Union government

On March 13, 1986, Chavan took over as the successor of Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar for the second time the office of Chief Minister of Maharashtra and held this office until June 24, 1988, after which he was replaced by Sharad Pawar. During his tenure as Chief Minister, he was also a member of the Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) between 1986 and 1988 .

After completing his tenure as Chief Minister, he rejoined the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet as Finance Minister on June 25, 1988 and held this ministerial office until the end of Rajiv Gandhi's tenure on December 1, 1989. At the same time, he became a member for the first time on October 28, 1988 the Rajya Sabha and belonged to this after his re-election on April 3, 1990 and April 3, 1996 until April 2, 2002. During his membership in the Rajya Sabha, he served intermittently as chair of the Human Resource Development Committee and the Ethics Committee.

On June 21, 1991, Chavan took over the office of Minister of the Interior in the Rao cabinet again and held this office until the end of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao's term on May 15, 1996. At the same time he acted between 1991 and 1996 as chairman of the majority faction in the Rajya Sabha. As Minister of the Interior, he played a controversial role in the destruction of the 1528 Babri Mosque in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. This in turn caused riots and assaults between Muslims and Hindus across the country, in which more than 2000 people - mostly Muslims - died found.

His marriage to Kusumtai S. Chavan in 1944 resulted in a son and five daughters.

Web links

• Short biography on the Lok Sabha homepage
• Short biography on the Rajya Sabha homepage
• Short biography (rulers.org)