Vijay Bhausaheb Thorat (Marathi pronunciation: aːɭaːsaːɦeb t̪ʰoɾaːt̪ born 7 February 1953), known popularly as Balasaheb Thorat, is an Indian politician who served as the revenue minister in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. He also served as the

Deputy Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in the

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (ISO: ''Mahārāṣṭra Vidhāna Sabhā'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Maharashtra state in western India. It consists of 288 members directly elected from single-seat constituenci ...

. Thorat is a senior member of the Congress Party. He was an MLA from Sangamner constituency. Thorat is a key figure in the cooperative movement and is the founder of a milk co-operative and former president of the Sangamner District and State Cooperative Bank. He is recognised for his work in

Sangamner taluka Sangamner taluka, is a taluka in Sangamner subdivision of Ahilyanagar district in Maharashtra state of India. Area The table below shows area of the taluka by land type. Villages in Sangamner There are at least 172 villages iSangamnertaluka. ''F ...

and Akole taluka. He has founded cooperative educational institutions in

Sangamner Sangamner is a city and a municipal council located in the Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra state in India. It derives its name from the site of the ''sangam'' (confluence) of three rivers in the area: the Pravara, Mhalungi, and Adhala. Sa ...

. He is currently (as of July 2024) President of Amrutvahini College of Engineering. Previously, he served as Minister of Agriculture and as Minister of Revenue, and Khar Lands in the

Government of Maharashtra The Government of Maharashtra is the executive branch of the Indian states of india, state of Maharashtra. The government is led by the List of chief ministers of Maharashtra, chief minister (currently Devendra Fadnavis since 5 December 2024) ...

Early life

Thorat was born on 7 February 1953 to late Bhausaheb Thorat. He was named as Vijay. His father Bhausaheb Thorat was a peasant leader in Maharashtra and a one-time legislator from Sangamner constituency. Bhausaheb Thorat defeated the then political heavyweight of Maharashtra B. J. Khatal-Patil, a minister in the Maharashtra's government for sixteen-years, in the 1978 Assembly elections as a candidate of INC.

Education

Thorat obtained his LLB degree from ILS Law College,

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

in 1977 and BA from Ferguson college,

Pune University Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Pune, is a public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshkhind. The uni ...

in 1975.

Political career

He began his political career as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

and fought for the Sangamner Vidhan Sabha seat and won with a margin of 10,159 votes on Shakuntala Khanderao Horat. Thereafter, he won 8 assembly elections without being defeated in any elections as a candidate of INC. He was the Minister of State for agriculture in the first

Vilasrao Deshmukh Vilasrao Dagadojirao Deshmukh (26 May 1945 – 14 August 2012) was an Indian politician who served as the 14th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, first term from 18 October 1999 to 16 January 2003 and second term, from 1 November 2004 to 5 De ...

's government. Later in 2004 he was elevated to the rank of cabinet minister along with

Anil Deshmukh Anil Vasantrao Deshmukh (born 9 May 1950) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He is a senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar). Deshmukh served as the Uddhav Thackeray ministry, Minister for Home ...

of NCP. He was one of those few leaders in

who served as ministers in the 15-year Congress-NCP alliance. He served as the minister of Agriculture, Water Conservation, Employment Guarantee Scheme and Additional charge of School Education in

Prithviraj Chavan Prithviraj Chavan (; born 17 March 1946) is an Indian politician who was the List of Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, 17th Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2010 to 2014. Chavan is a graduate of BITS Pilani and University of California, Berkel ...

's cabinet. He is a well-known and a leading face in the

cooperative movement The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives across the world. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement bega ...

. His nephew Satyajeet Tambe Patil is also a politician in

Ahmadnagar district Ahmednagar district (Marathi pronunciation: �ɦ(ə)məd̪nəɡəɾ, officially Ahilyanagar district, is the largest district of Maharashtra state in western India. The historical city of Ahmednagar is the headquarters of the district. Ahmednagar ...

and a two-time member of Ahmadnagar Municipality. Thorat was made the MPCC chief in 2019 when

Ashok Chavan Ashok Shankarrao Chavan (born 28 October 1958) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra. He is the son of the late former Maharashtra Chief Minister Shankarrao Chavan. He was one of the most influential leaders of Indian National Congress in Ma ...

resigned following the weak performance of the party in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

elections. Thorat had to battle with the large-scale defections from his party to the ruling alliance. Due to defections the Congress's tally in the assembly fell down decisively. Under his leadership the party improved its tally from 31 legislators in the assembly to 44 legislators. After the 2019 political turmoil in Maharashtra with the formation of a post-poll alliance called

Maha Vikas Aghadi The Maha Vikas Aghadi (; abbreviated as MVA), is a state-level political alliance of Centrism, centre to Centre-left politics, centre-left political parties in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is one of the two major political alliances in M ...

by the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

, NCP and

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...

, Thorat was sworn in as a minister in the Uddhav Thackeray administration. Thorat resigned as the leader of the Congress in Legislature in 2023.

Political statistics

Positions held

* 1985–2024 -

Member of Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several national ...

. * 1999–2004 - Minister of State for Agriculture, Govt. of Maharashtra * 2004-2014 - Cabinet Minister, Govt. of Maharashtra * 14 July 2019 – 5 February 2021 - PCC Chief, Maharashtra * 26 November 2019 - 2023 - Congress Legislative Party leader,

* 28 November 2019 – 2023 - Cabinet Minister for Revenue, Govt. of Maharashtra * 8 January 2020 - Guardian minister

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Kolhapur is one of the most significant cities in South Maharashtra and has been a hub of historical, religious, and cultural a ...

* Permanent invitee -

Congress Working Committee The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is the executive committee of the Indian National Congress. It was formed in December 1920 at Nagpur session of INC which was headed by C. Vijayaraghavachariar. It is composed of senior party leaders and is r ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorat, Balasaheb Marathi politicians Cooperatives in Maharashtra Forestry in India Water conservation in India 1953 births Living people Maharashtra MLAs 2014–2019 Maharashtra MLAs 1985–1990 Maharashtra MLAs 1990–1995 Maharashtra MLAs 1995–1999 Maharashtra MLAs 1999–2004 Maharashtra MLAs 2004–2009 Maharashtra MLAs 2009–2014 Maharashtra MLAs 2019–2024 Deputy opposition leaders Presidents of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee