Ahmedabad: Chandrakant Raghunath Patil, a seasoned politician from Gujarat whose career trajectory has taken him from being a police constable to the highest echelons of political power in India, was sworn in as a Cabinet minister in the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday held in New Delhi.
Patil began his career as a police constable in Gujarat in 1975, following in his father’s footsteps.
He served in this capacity for 14 years before transitioning to other fields.
Before entering politics, Patil worked in journalism. He was associated with the Gujarati Daily ‘Navgujarat Times’ in 1991, enhancing his understanding of media and public communication.
He started his political journey with the BJP in 1989 and has since held several significant positions within the party. Patil’s roles have included Treasurer and later Vice-President of the BJP Surat City unit. His dedication and effectiveness in these roles earned him the chairmanship of Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited, a state Public Sector Undertaking.
Patil was first elected to the Parliament from the Navsari constituency in 2009, a seat he has retained in subsequent elections.
His tenure in Parliament is distinguished by active participation in several key committees, including Urban Development, Health and Family Welfare, and Civil Aviation.
As an MP, Patil has been instrumental in several development projects in his home constituency and the state. Notably, he played a pivotal role in the upgrade of the Surat airport, transforming it into a hub with multiple national and international flights.
He has also been involved in boosting the textile, infrastructure, and diamond industries in Surat.
Under his initiative, Navsari became India’s first “smokeless” district, with zero usage of firewood or kerosene, promoting the use of cleaner energy sources.
Patil’s electoral success is notable for the large margins by which he has won.
In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he achieved some of the highest vote margins recorded in the country. In 2013, he became the first Indian MP to receive an ISO certification for the quality management system in monitoring and administration of government services for his constituency.
Eventually, in 2020, Patil was appointed as the President of the Gujarat state unit of the BJP, becoming the first non-Gujarati to hold this position.
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