A. R. Antulay

A. R. Antulay Biography

A. R. Antulay was a senior politician from state of Maharashtra. A member of Indian National Congress, he served as the 8th chief minister of Maharashtra during the term, 9 June 1980 – 12 January 1982. He got elected to Parliament in 2004, where he served as a union minister for Minority Affairs in Manmohan Singh’s cabinet. However he lost 2009 Lok Sabha elections. He was forced to resign from CM post when he was convicted for extortion of money for a trust fund he managed. He was known among the common man for the alleged cement scam during his tenure as chief minister in the 80s. Follwing his resignation, a first term MLA and cabinet minister, Babasaheb Bhosale was appointed as Chief Minister by Indira Gandhi. He was also known as Harun al-Rashid of Maharashtra.

He hailed from Ambet District, Raigad of Maharashtra and was born into a Muslim family in 1929. He married Nargis Antulay and the couple had four children. He completed LLB from Mumbai University and started his professional career as a lawyer before he got fully involved with politics. He got elected to state assembly for the first time in 1962, and served as an MLA for continuous 14 years. During his tenure, he has also served as a cabinet minister handling portfolios such as Law and Judiciary, Ports and Fisheries, Building, Communication and Housing before he was appointed as CM in 1980.

Though he had a brief tenure of one-and-a-half years, his rule sank in corruption. He lost his CM power too. Yet he returned in a bang and got elected to state assembly in 1985. He was elected to Lok Sabha in 1989 and got re-elected in 1991. He served as the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, with an additional charge of Water Resources. He was re-elected to Lok Sabha during 1996 and 2004 Assembly elections too.

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Updated: June 17, 2016