Know more about President - Pratibha Patil

New Delhi, June 15: The Congress veteran was born on December 19, 1934 in Jalgaon district and studied in Jalgaon and Mumbai to earn post-graduate degrees in arts and law. She practised law in Jalgaon before joining the Congress. She was elected to the Maharashtra assembly in 1962 for the first time.

Born in District Jalgaon on December 19, 1934, Pratibha studied in Jalgaon and Mumbai to earn post-graduate degrees in arts and law. She practised law in Jalgaon before joining the Congress.

* Pratibha was a member of Maharashtra assembly from 1962 to 1985 .
* She also has the experience of being a leader of the opposition when Sharad Pawar, became the Maharashtra Chief Minister
for the first time in 1979.
* Sworn in as the Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha from 1986-88, Pratibha moved to the Lok Sabha in 1991, where she was the Chairperson of the House Committee.
* Nearly eight years after her tenure as Lok Sabha member had ended in 1996, Pratibha, a staunch supporter of the Nehru-Gandhi family and a non-controversial personality, had gone into a virtual sanyas (sabbatical) before she was brought in as Rajasthan Governor in November 2004, making her the first woman to occupy the post in India.

Apart from politics, Pratibha is also involved in the cooperative movement in Maharashtra and has set up industrial training schools for the blind besides sewing classes for poor and needy women.

Pratibha has a Rajasthani connection as well. Her husband Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat's ancestors had migrated to Jalgaon area in Maharashtra a few generations back from the Shekhawati region.

It is a battle of Shekhavats as Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat ia also contesting the Presidential elections.

OneIndia News

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