Keshubhai Patel (24 July 1928 – 29 October 2020) was an Indian politician who was theChief Minister of Gujarat in 1995 and again from 1998 to 2001. He was a six-time member ofGujarat Legislative Assembly.^[1] He was a member of RSS since 1940s, of Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1960s, Janata Party in 1970s, and theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 1980. He left the BJP in 2012 and formed theGujarat Parivartan Party. He was elected fromVisavadar in the2012 state assembly election but resigned in 2014 due to ill health and merged his party with BJP.

Keshubhai Patel
10thChief Minister of Gujarat
In office 4 March 1998 – 6 October 2001
Preceded by	Dilip Parikh
Succeeded by	Narendra Modi
In office 14 March 1995 – 21 October 1995
Preceded by	Chhabildas Mehta
Succeeded by	Suresh Mehta
3rd Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat
In office 4 March 1990 – 25 October 1990
Chief Minister	Chimanbhai Patel
Preceded by	Kantilal Ghia
Succeeded by	Narhari Amin
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 1977–1980
Preceded by	Ghanshyambhai Oza
Succeeded by	Ramjibhai Mavani
Constituency	Rajkot, Gujarat
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
In office 10 April 2002 – 9 April 2008
Constituency	Gujarat
Minister of Irrigation Government of Gujarat
In office 1978–1980
Chief Minister	Babubhai Patel
Constituency	Rajkot
Member ofGujarat Legislative Assembly
In office 2012–2014
Preceded by	Kanu Bhalala
Succeeded by	Harshad Ribadiya
Constituency	Visavadar
In office 1995–2002
Preceded by	Kuraji Bhesaniya
Succeeded by	Kanu Bhalala
Constituency	Visavadar
In office 1990–1995
Preceded by	constituency established
Succeeded by	Mohanbhai Kundariya
Constituency	Tankara
In office 1985–1990
Preceded by	Popatbhai Lakhabhai Sorathiya
Succeeded by	Popatbhai Lakhabhai Sorathiya
Constituency	Gondal
In office 1980–1985
Preceded by	Patel Bhimjibhai Vasrambhai
Succeeded by	Patel Raghavji Hansraj
Constituency	Kalavad
In office 1975–1980
Constituency	Rajkot
Leader of Opposition Gujarat Legislative Assembly
In office 29 October 1990 – 11 March 1995
Preceded by	Chhaganbhai Devabhai Patel
Succeeded by	Amarsinh Chaudhary
Personal details
Born	(1928-07-24)24 July 1928 Visavadar,Junagadh State,British India
Died	29 October 2020(2020-10-29) (aged 92) Ahmedabad,Gujarat, India
Political party	Bharatiya Jana Sangh(1951–1977) Janata Party(1977–1980) Bharatiya Janata Party(1980–2012, 2014–2020) Gujarat Parivartan Party(2012 – 2014)
Spouse	Leela Patel (m. ?-2006)
Children	6
Awards	Padma Bhushan (2021; posthumously)

He was awarded thePadma Bhushan posthumously in 2021.^[2][3]

Keshubhai Patel was born on 24 July 1928 as Keshubhai Desai in a LeuvaPatidar family inVisavadar town in the present dayJunagadh district,Gujarat. His family is said to have migrated from Vaso village inNadiad ofKheda district, a village of Patidars, where revenue clerks were known as 'Desai'. The family migrated toSaurashtra and ran a flour mill in Rajkot.Jana Sangh veterans like former chief ministerShankersinh Vaghela, who knew Keshubhai for 55 years, says he ran this mill in Hathikhana area ofRajkot for a living, and described him as a "self-made" man who built the party from scratch. Patel toldThe Indian Express in 2015 that "Many Patels fromAmreli andJunagadh are Desais––clerks who collected taxes from landowners and were found in the tiny state of Vaso nearNadiad and inSaurashtra. Throughout school, I was Keshubhai Desai, till our Junagadh leaderSuryakant Acharya [a former BJP MP] began to refer to me as 'Keshubhai Patel' in public, and the name stuck". InRajkot, he went to Alfred High School, which is alsoMahatma Gandhi's alma mater.^[4] He joined theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1945 as apracharak. He was imprisoned duringthe Emergency.^[5]

Patel began his journey in electoral politics by contesting in theRajkot municipality and laterRajkot Municipal Corporation. He started his political career as a worker for theJan Sangh, of which was he was a founder member, in the 1960s. He lost theGujarat Vidhan Sabha election in 1972 fromWankaner (Vidhan Sabha constituency) to theCongress. In 1975, he won from theRajkot Vidhan Sabha Constituency and became minister for irrigation from 1978 to 1980 in the BJS-backed government of theIndian National Congress (Organisation), popularly called the Sanstha Congress, led by Chief MinisterBabubhai Jashbhai Patel. During the Emergency, Patel was among the 3,500 people from Gujarat to be jailed under the draconianMaintenance of Internal Security Act.^[6] He was involved in relief work following the1979 Machchhu dam failure which devastatedMorbi.^[7][8]

Patel won assembly elections for the constituencies of Rajkot (1975), Gondal (1980), Kalavad (1985), Tankara (1990), andVisavadar (Vidhan Sabha constituency) (1995, 1998, 2012) between 1975 and 2012.^[5] In 1980, when Jan Sangh was dissolved, he became a senior organiser of the newly formedBharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Patel wasDeputy Chief Minister of Gujarat from 4 March 1990 to 25 October 1990 underChimanbhai Patel.^[9] He organized the 1995 assembly election campaign for the BJP againstCongress (I), which the party won.^[10] Patel became the chief minister of Gujarat on 14 March 1995 but resigned seven months later as his colleagueShankersinh Vaghela revolted against him.Suresh Mehta succeeded him as a consensus chief minister. BJP was split as theRashtriya Janata Party (RJP) was formed by Vaghela who became the chief minister in October 1996 with support of the Congress (I). The assembly was dissolved in 1998 when Congress (I) withdrew its support for the RJP. The BJP, led by Patel, returned to power in the1998 assembly elections and he became the chief minister again on 4 March 1998.^[5][11]

Patel resigned as the chief minister on 2 October 2001 due to poor health. Allegations of abuse of power, corruption and poor administration, as well as a loss of BJP seats inby-elections and mismanagement of relief works in the aftermath of the2001 Bhuj earthquake, prompted the BJP's national leadership to seek a new candidate for the office of chief minister. He was succeeded byNarendra Modi.^[12] Patel did not contest the2002 Gujarat assembly election but was elected to theRajya Sabha unopposed in 2002.^[13]

In the2007 Gujarat assembly elections, he urged his community to vote for change. He "blessed" theIndian National Congress (formerly Congress (I)) and did not even cast his vote. The BJP again won the election with a clear majority and formed a government led by Modi.^[13] Patel did not renew his BJP membership,^[14] resigned from the BJP on 4 August 2012 and launched theGujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) to contest the2012 Gujarat legislative assembly election.^[15] He won a seat in the Visavadar constituency against the BJP candidate Kanubhai Bhalala, although his party GPP won just one other seat.^[16] Patel resigned from the post of president of GPP in January 2014 and later resigned as a member of theGujarat Legislative Assembly due to ill health on 13 February 2014.^[17] Later, GPP merged with BJP on 24 February 2014.^[18]

Patel married Leela Patel and had five sons and a daughter.^[7] His son, Bharat Patel, is a member of BJP.^[7][16] Leela Patel died in their home inGandhinagar after an electrical fire broke out in the exercise room on 21 September 2006.^[19] On 9 September 2017, Patel's 60-year-old son, Pravin Patel, living in the US, died ofcardiac arrest .^[20]

Keshubhai Patel tested positive forCOVID-19 in September 2020 but apparently recovered after the initial infection. However, he complained of difficulty breathing on the morning of 29 October 2020. He was taken to a hospital, where he died the same day due to post-covid complications.^[21][22]

He was awarded India's third highest civilian award thePadma Bhushan posthumously in 2021.^[2][3]

• Profile on Rajya Sabha website (archived 25 March 2012)
• Government of Gujarat.Archived 9 September 2014 at theWayback Machine.