Balasaheb Vikhe Patil

Balasaheb Vikhe Patil
	File:Balasaheb Vikhe Patil accepting Padma Bhushan (cropped).jpg ; Patil in 2010
Office	Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises; Government of India
Office	Minister of State in Ministry of Finance; Government of India
Office	Member of Parliament; Lok Sabha ; ;
Term start	1 July 2002
Term end	24 May 2003
Predecessor	Suresh Prabhu
Successor	Subodh Mohite
Predecessor	V. Dhananjay Kumar
Successor	Anant Geete ; ;
Born	1932-4-10
Born	Ahmednagar, Maharashtra
Died	Template:Death date and age
Place of death	Loni, Pravaranagar (District Ahmednagar), Maharashtra ; ;
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse	Sindhutai
Children	5 including Ashok Vikhe Patil, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil & Rajendra Vikhe Patil, ; ; ;

Eknathrao, alias Balasaheb Vikhe Patil (10 April 1932 – 30 December 2016), was an Indian politician and former Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises and Minister of state of Finance in Government of India. He served as a Member of Parliament of Lok Sabha variously representing Kopargaon and Ahmednagar.^[1] He was a member of the Indian National Congress but later joined Shivsena. He was appointed Pro-tem Speaker of 14th Lok Sabha.

Political career

He was a prominent political leader in Maharashtra. He was a Minister in the Third Vajpayee Ministry. He served seven terms as a Lok Sabha MP representing Kopargaon and Ahmednagar. He won his Lok Sabha seat in 1998 as a candidate for Shiv Sena. As a supporter of the NDA government he was appointed Minister of State in Ministry of Finance (India) and later on appointed Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises in the Government of India. He rejoined the Indian National Congress in 2004.^[2]

He was the eldest son of Vithalrao Vikhe Patil, who started Asia's first Co-operative sugar factory at Loni in Maharashtra.

The Jeevan Sadhana Gaurav Award from Pune University for lifetime achievement in the field of education and rural development in 2007
Padma Bhushan by Government of India on 31 March 2010 for his outstanding work in the field of Social Work.^[3]
D.Sc - Doctor of Science Award awarded in the year 2013 by Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri.