Senior leader of the Congress party and a former minister of Maharashtra, Patangrao Kadam passed away in Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital yesterday after his brief battle with serious ailments at the age of 74 years.
Kadam, who had been undergoing treatment for renal dysfunction, is survived by Vishwajeet Kadam, a Youth Congress leader who holds various party posts and had unsuccessfully contested 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Pune.
Patangrao came from an extremely backward family from Maharashtra’s Sangli district. Following his brief stint as a teacher after securing MA and LLB degrees, Kadam joined politics and contested state elections first as an independent candidate, and then later from a Congress ticket.
The staunch Congressman was elected to Maharashtra’s legislative assembly four times and even held key portfolios like forests, industries, education and relief & rehabilitation. He even served as the president of the state Congress unit during his career.
Apart from his political ventures, Kadam is also known for founding the Bharti Vidyapeeth Deemed University, which is a large group of eminent educational institutions spread across Maharashtra. He was even responsible for setting up many sugar and ginning mills in various districts.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had visited Mumbai yesterday to check up on his condition. Her son, Rahul Gandhi, along with other political leaders across all parties, including BJP, expressed condolences at Kadam’s demise and prayed for his family.