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The 70-year-old Shiv Sena politician, serving his seventh term in the Lok Sabha, got the promotion almost three years after joining the Union Council of Ministers as minister of state for finance.
Beginning public life as chairman of the education and public works committee of the Ahmednagar district council in 1962, Vikhe-Patil was associated with the Congress for 29 years, with a two-year break, before he joined the Sena in 1991.
A keen agriculturist, he began his career with the Congress as an ordinary member, but made steady progress and was elected secretary of the Ahmednagar district unit in 1968.
Vikhe-Patil left the Congress for two years in 1977 and was president of the breakaway Maharashtra Samajwadi Congress till 1979.
He became treasurer of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee for a four-year term in 1985.
He was elected on a Congress ticket to the Lok Sabha in 1971, 1977, 1980, 1984 and 1989. He lost the 1991 general election and then had to wait seven years to return to the Lok Sabha, this time as a representative of the Shiv Sena, which he had joined after his defeat.
During his long tenure in the Lok Sabha, Vikhe-Patil has been associated with key parliamentary committees dealing with various ministries.
PTI
The Complete Coverage: Cabinet Reshuffle 2002
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