Shalini Patil, better known as 'Shalinitai' by the people of Maharashtra, passed away on Saturday at her residence in Mumbai's Mahim area. She was aged 94.
Reports say that the senior Congress leader had been ill over the past few months, for which she had been receiving treatment at her residence.
She will be cremated on Sunday at her native village at Koregaon in Maharashtra's Satara area.
"Even though she was the wife of the late Chief Minister Vasantdada Patil, she carved out her own independent place in politics ... With her passing, an era in the state's politics has drawn to a close behind the curtain of time," wrote NCP leader Rohit Pawar on X, mourning Patil's death.
"She never hesitated while expressing her opinions," NCP chief Sharad Pawar wrote on X.
"Just as openly as she criticized me publicly, she fearlessly conveyed to her colleagues Vasantdada's message: 'Accept Sharad's leadership'," he added, addressing her as 'barrister'.
Indeed, though Shalinitai was the wife of ex-Maharashtra CM Vasantrao Patil, the fearless, outspoken leader is said to have carved out her own legacy in the state's politics and in social work.
Known for her aggressiveness—which is why Balasaheb Thackeray once reportedly called her the 'tigress of Maharashtra politics'—Shalini Patil was twice elected as an MLA from the Koregaon constituency between 1999 and 2009.
It was also this aggressiveness that enabled her to fearlessly speak out on the Maratha reservation and the representation of women in politics, and even create her own political party, the Kranti Sena, in 2009. However, she later rejoined Congress after her party failed to gain traction in the state.
She also represented the Sangli constituency in the Lok Sabha for a short while in 1983—just after her husband's resignation as CM.
Shalinitai even held a position in former CM A.R. Antulay's cabinet in the 1980s—as the Revenue Minister. However, Antulay's chief ministerial tenure was very short (1980-82), as a Bombay High Court verdict in a cement allotment case forced him to resign.
Shalinitai was also a pioneer in social work, founding the Rajmata Jijau Pratishthan for the welfare of poor patients and women in the 1970s, as per a Divya Marathi report.