Earlier, he also served as the Minister of Public Works Department, Minister of State for School Education, Information and Public Relations, Minister of Food & Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Minister of State for Sports & Youth Affairs and Minister of State for Education and Culture in the Government of Maharashtra.
Deshmukh was born in the Vad Vihira village near Katol in the Nagpur district of Maharashtra. He studied in Katol High School and later attended the College of Agriculture, Nagpur, where he received a Master of Science degree in Agriculture awarded by Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola.
Political career
Deshmukh began his political career in Nagpur as chairman of the Nagpur Zilla Parishad. In 1995, he rebelled against Congress party leadership after he was denied a ticket in favour of the incumbent Sushil Shinde. He fought as an independent candidate in that year and got elected to the state Assembly. Deshmukh supported the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance which formed the government in 1995 and was made the Minister of State for Education. In 1999, he joined the newly formed NCP launched by Sharad Pawar. After the NCP-Congress alliance came to power in 1999, Deshmukh was made the Minister of State for School Education, Information and Public Relations, Sports & Youth Welfare. He was later promoted as a Cabinet minister and was in charge of the Public Works Department, Excise, Food & Drugs, and Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection.
Deshmukh lost his Katol seat to his nephew Ashish Deshmukh in the 2014 Assembly elections but won it back in the 2019 elections. After the 2019 election, Deshmukh became the Home Minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, which was an unlikely alliance between Shiv Sena, NCP, and the Congress. The alliance elected Uddhav Thackeray as the Chief Minister. Deshmukh also served as the Guardian Minister of the Gondia district.
Over the years, Deskhmukh has been involved in various initiatives such as establishing the Maharashtra Bhushan award, reforms in the school education sector, among others.
However, his last position as the Home Minister of Maharashtra made headlines for allegations of corruption levelled by former Police Commissioner of Mumbai Param Bir Singh and also for the explosive-laden SUV found outside India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani’s residence Antilia. He resigned as the home minister of Maharashtra in 2021.
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