Pune: Devisingh Shekhawat, husband of former President of India Pratibhatai Patil and first mayor of Amravati city passed away after a brief illness on Friday at a hospital in Pune, sources said. He was 89. As per family sources, Shekhawat breathed his last at 9.26 am today.
As soon as the news of Shekhawat's death reached Amravati this morning, his relatives and officials of Vidyabharati Education Institute left for Pune to attend his funeral. He will be cremated today at six o'clock in the evening in Pune. Shekhawat had a fall outside his house in Pune on February 12.
He had undergone a surgery, but later developed several other complications, including high blood pressure, kidney failure leading to his demise. He is survived by his wife Pratibha Patil, the former President, son Rajendra Singh Shekhawat, who is a Congress leader and daughter Jyoti, who is an engineer.
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Shekhawat, a member of the Indian National Congress, represented the Amravati Assembly constituency in the Legislative Assembly from 1985 to 1990. After his defeat in the 1990 election, he became the first mayor of Amravati after winning the first ever Amravati Municipal Corporation election in 1991.
Shekhawat graduated in Chemistry from the University of Bombay in 1972. After his collegiate education, he worked as a teacher in the school of Shree Shivaji Shikshan Sansthan in Nerpingala. He then taught students as a professor of chemistry at Sri Shivaji College. In 1969, he established the Vidyabharati Shikshan Sanstha and started the first school in Murbagh area of Amravati city.
In 1971, he started Vidyabharati College in the camp area of Amravati city. On July 7, 1965, Dr. Shekhawat and Pratibhatai Patil got married. His son Raosaheb(Rajendra) Shekhawat was an MLA from Amravati assembly constituency between 2009 and 2014. After former President Pratibhatai Patil's presidential term ended on 15 July 2012, she settled in Pune along with Shekhawat.
