Babasaheb Bhosale

Babasaheb Anantrao Bhosale (15 January 1921 – 6 October 2007) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Maharashtra from January 1982 until February 1983.

Early life Bhosale was born on 15 January 1921 in the Kaledhon Satara district of Maharashtra. An alumnus of the Shahaji Law College in Kolhapur, he passed the Bar-at-law examination at Lincoln's Inn, London in 1951 following which he practised in Satara as an advocate for a decade. Bhosale was imprisoned during 1941–42 for his participation in the freedom struggle. In 1980, he was elected to the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha from there and went on to become a minister and later chief minister during his first term as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. In the A.R. Antulay Ministry, Bhosale headed the law and judiciary portfolios before succeeding A.R. Antulay as Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Bhosale initiated several welfare measures for freedom fighters including a pension scheme for them and cracked down on a strike by policemen, dissolving the policemen's union that had the support of several senior Congress leaders. Bhosale's rule ended on 1 February 1983 following Vasantdada Patil's election to the chief ministership by legislators of the Congress Party.

Bhosale's cabinet had several people who went on to hold important offices later including Pratibha Patil who went on to become the President of India

Family Bhosale was the son-in-law of Tulsidas Jadhav, a freedom fighter and Rajya Sabha member who sided with Indira Gandhi when she split the Indian National Congress in 1969. His brother Shivajirao Bhosale was a vice-chancellor of Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University. Bhosale's elder daughter, Mrs. Shanta Yadav retired as professor, his son Ashok is an entrepreneur, his daughter Saroj Bhosale is a business woman, his son Dilip was a judicial member of the Lokpal. His youngest son Dr. Rajan is one of India's foremost authorities and pioneers in the field of sexual medicine and sex education.

Death Bhosale died at the Bombay Hospital in Mumbai on 6 October 2007 at the age of 86.