Patil was a member of Sangli Zillah Parishad from 1979 to 1990 from Savlaj constituency, then was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in 1990, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 representing Tasgaon, in Sangli district. He became the Chief Whip of the Congress Party in the assembly as well as the chairman of the public accounts committee of the assembly in 1996–97 and 1998–99.
He was the most respected politician in Maharashtra, also christened as 'Mr Clean in political circles due to his clean image in the erstwhile tainted political party and also due to cleanliness awareness initiatives like "Gadage Baba Swachata Abhiyan" & "Tantamukt Gaon".
After 1999 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election, he became the Rural Development Minister of Maharashtra in the Congress-NCP coalition government in October 1999. He became the Home Minister of Maharashtra on 25 December 2003. After taking charge of Home Ministry, he also sought guardianship of naxal activity affected district Gadchiroli. Since then, in spite of many naxal attacks, he encouraged natives to support elected government through some developmental work for them. On 1 November 2004, he was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He was also the chief of the Nationalist Congress Party's Maharashtra unit and NCP legislative party in Maharashtra.
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