Newsmaker | Nitin Raut: Ex-minister, Congress’s Dalit face in Maharashtra hospitalised in Hyderabad

Nitin Raut, in Telangana as part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, was allegedly pushed by policemen on Tuesday night. The former state power minister is an old party hand from Vidarbha.

Nitin Raut was admitted to a hospital after getting injured in Telangana's Bharat Jodo Yatra. (Express/Twitter/DeekshaNRaut)

Former Energy Minister of Maharashtra and senior Congress leader Nitin Raut who was injured during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Telangana on Tuesday night and admitted to a hospital is an old Congress hand from the state’s Vidarbha region.

Raut, 70, is a four-time Congress legislator from Nagpur North, which is a seat reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) communities, and the party’s most prominent Dalit face in Maharashtra. He was injured in the forehead after allegedly being pushed by policemen.

Raut was also among the only two Congress leaders along with Balasaheb Thorat who were sworn in along with Uddhav Thackeray when the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was formed on November 28, 2019. Six Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Congress leaders were sworn in along with Uddhav Thackeray.

Yesterday, in Hyderabad my father fainted during Bharat jodo yatra. He has got a small injury on his head. I hope he gets well soon and joins the Mass movement when it reaches Maharashtra.@NitinRaut_INC pic.twitter.com/X0Su2v1Upd

— Deeksha Nitin Raut (@DeekshaNRaut) November 2, 2022

Raut cut his teeth in governance as Minister of State for Home, Central Excise and Labour in the Ashok Chavan government in 2008 after Vilasrao Deshmukh stepped down as Chief Minister following the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai. He became a Cabinet Minister when Chavan returned as Chief Minister following the 2009 election. He was made Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development initially and was later shifted to the Employment Guarantee Scheme and Water Conservation Ministry.

Cementing his position as the party’s prominent Dalit leader in Maharashtra, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi appointed him the party’s SC Cell president in 2018. Raut is considered to be in the good books of both Rahul and Sonia Gandhi.

Raut first won from Nagpur North in 1999. He lost to the BJP’s Milind Mane in 2014, his only defeat so far. He is one of the two MLAs, the other being Vikas Thakre (Nagpur West), to breach the BJP’s seemingly invincible Nagpur fortress and is known for his good relations with many leaders from other parties, including Nitin Gadkari of the BJP. Raut holds a doctorate on Ambedkar’s thoughts on the population problem.