Making of a Leader: Yashwantrao Chavan

Yashwantrao Chavan played a major role in putting the western region of the state on the political map. The cooperative and agricultural sectors as well as the panchayati raj institutions were also the beneficiaries of his attention.

Krishnakath (On the Banks of the Krishna) has been translated for the first time from Marathi to commemorate his birth centenary (12 March 1913). It is the first and only volume of the three that Chavan had set out to write. The second Sagar Tir (By the Side of the Sea) was to be about his role as the first chief minister of the state. Maharashtra’s birth pangs were severe (106 people died in the police firing in the Samyukta Maharashtra movement) what with the painful skirmish with Gujarat over Bombay, Morarjee Desai’s hostility and Nehru’s reluctance. Yamunakath (On the Banks of the Yamuna) was to have covered his sojourn in Delhi as defence minister and the years that followed.