By IANS,
Mumbai : Maharashtra, which enjoys a reputation of political stability, has had 14 leaders occupying the post of chief minister since the formation of the state on May 1, 1960.
Only once – for a five-month period between February and June 1980 – was the state placed under president’s rule.
Of the 14 chief ministers, some have ruled twice and a few have ruled the state thrice on various occasions, according to official records. The late Y.B. Chavan was the first chief minister May 1, 1960-Nov 19, 1962.
The record set by the fourth chief minister, Vasantrao Naik, of 12 years in the post from Dec 5, 1963, to Feb 20, 1975, remains unbeaten so far. At the other extreme, the late P.K. alias Balasaheb Sawant occupied the post for barely a fortnight – from Nov 24, 1963, to Dec 5, 1963.
Only four leaders have been sworn in as chief minister on more than one occasion, among them the outgoing Vilasrao Deshmukh.
The legendary Vasantdada Patil is the only chief minister sworn in on four occasions, the first time in 1977.
He served May 17, 1977-March 5, 1978; March 5, 1978-July 18, 1978; Feb 2, 1983-March 9, 1985; and March 10, 1985-June 1, 1985.
Next in the list is Sharad Pawar, considered Vasantdada Patil’s “political successor”, who was also sworn in on four occasions. He served from July 18, 1978-Feb 17, 1980; June 26, 1988-March 4, 1990; March 4, 1990-June 25, 1991; and March 9, 1993-March 13, 1995.
The late S.B. Chavan first ruled from Feb 21, 1975, to May 17, 1977. Later, he was chief minister from March 12, 1986, to June 26, 1988.
Deshmukh’s first tenure was from Oct 18, 1999, to Jan 16, 2003, and the second from Nov 01, 2004, to Dec 4, 2008.
The remaining held a single tenure of varying periods. They include:
Late M. Kannamwar (Nov 20, 1962-Nov 24, 1963);
A. R. Antulay (June 9, 1980-Jan 21, 1982) created history as the state’s first Muslim chief minister;
Late Babasaheb Bhosale (Jan 21, 1982-Feb 1, 1983);
Shivajirao Patil-Nilangekar (June 3, 1985-March 06, 1986);
Late Sudhakarrao Naik (June 26, 1991-March 8, 1993);
Shiv Sena leader and head of the saffron combine with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Manohar Joshi (Mar 14, 1995-Jan 31, 1999), who later became Lok Sabha speaker;
Also from the same combine was Narayan Rane (Feb 1, 1999-Oct 17, 1999);
Sushilkumar Shinde (Jan 18, 2003-Oct 30, 2004), who created history as the state’s first Dalit chief minister.
The deputy chief minister’s post was created out of political compulsions as single party rule gave way to the era of coalition politics. The first deputy chief minister was Nasikrao K. Tirpude (March 5, 1978-July 18, 1978).
Later, the post was revived after six years with flamboyant Ramrao Adik (Feb 2, 1983-March 5, 1985). After the saffron combine of Shiv Sena-BJP came to power, the post became almost permanent. BJP’s Gopinath Munde occupied it from March 14, 1995 to Oct 11, 1999.
The next in line was the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) aggressive Chhagan Bhujbal (Oct 18, 1999-Dec 23, 2003). He was followed by the NCP’s soft-spoken Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil (Dec 27, 2003-Oct 19, 2004).
The last occupant of the post was the mild-mannered Raosaheb Ramrao Patil (Nov 1, 2004-Dec 1, 2008), who took moral responsibility for the Nov 26 Mumbai terror attacks and resigned.