Chronology · 1989 to the present

Political
journey

Thirty-seven years, set out by date. Twenty of them in organisational work before a first election; four parliamentary terms after it; a state party presidency that has since concluded; and a Union portfolio held from 2024.

Joined the BJP
1989, Surat city unit
First elected
2009, Navsari
Terms in the Lok Sabha
Four, consecutive
Union office
From June 2024
Phase One

Organisation
1989 – 2008

Two decades of work inside a party structure, with no elected office and no legislative record. This is the part of a political career that leaves the thinnest documentary trail, and the part that usually determines everything that follows.

1989

Joins the Bharatiya Janata Party

Enters the party in Surat, the industrial and textile city of south Gujarat, and begins work in the city unit. He holds no elected office at this stage and will hold none for twenty years.

1990s

Treasurer, then Vice-President, Surat City unit

Takes on the internal offices of a city unit — finances, membership and the administrative machinery of a rapidly growing urban organisation. Surat's population expanded sharply through this period on the strength of textiles, diamonds and migration, and the party's organisation expanded with it.

1998

Chairman, Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited

Appointed to chair a Gujarat state public sector undertaking — his first executive office outside the party structure, and his first experience of running a public institution with a balance sheet.

Through the 2000s

State-level advisory roles

Serves on advisory committees attached to the Chief Minister of Gujarat and to the state's Revenue Ministry, and on the party's Gujarat parliamentary board — the body that handles candidate selection and electoral strategy in the state.

C. R. Patil offering sweets in greeting to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, with another senior leader seated between them.
C. R. Patil greeting the Union Home Minister at a gathering of senior party figures in Gujarat.
Phase Two

Parliament
2009 – 2024

The 2008 delimitation redrew India's parliamentary map and created Navsari out of parts of Surat city and Navsari district. He contested the new seat at its first election and has held it ever since.

Full election results

2009

Elected to the 15th Lok Sabha

Wins the newly created Navsari constituency at its first general election, becoming its first Member of Parliament, with a recorded vote share of about 56 per cent.

2010

Committee appointments

Appointed to the Standing Committee on Defence and to the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

2014

Re-elected to the 16th Lok Sabha

Returned from Navsari with 8,20,831 votes and a recorded margin of 5,58,116 votes — among the largest margins recorded in that general election.

2018 – 2019

Committee on Government Assurances

Serves on the committee that tracks whether undertakings given to the House by ministers are actually carried out — a scrutiny function rather than a legislative one.

2019

Re-elected to the 17th Lok Sabha

Returned with 9,72,739 votes and a recorded margin of 6,89,668 votes.

2022

Consultative Committee, Petroleum and Natural Gas

Appointed to the consultative committee attached to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

2024

Re-elected to the 18th Lok Sabha

Returned with 10,31,065 votes, a vote share of 78.24 per cent and a margin of 7,73,551 votes over the runner-up, on a turnout of 60.2 per cent.

Phase Three

State leadership
and Union office

Between July 2020 and October 2025 he held the presidency of the party's Gujarat unit. From June 2024 the two roles overlapped, until the state post passed to a successor.

20 July 2020

President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Gujarat

Takes charge of the state unit. He is the first person from outside Gujarat to hold the office — a fact noted at the time and worth recording because it is unusual in Indian state party politics.

9 June 2024

Sworn in to the Union Council of Ministers

Takes the oath as a Cabinet Minister following the 2024 general election, and is allocated the Jal Shakti portfolio.

June 2024

Takes charge at the Ministry of Jal Shakti

Assumes charge of a ministry with two departments — Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation; and Drinking Water and Sanitation — supported by two Ministers of State.

4 October 2025

Succeeded as Gujarat state president

Shri Jagdish Vishwakarma is elected state president, concluding a tenure of a little over five years. From this date the Union portfolio is the office he holds.

Present

Union Minister of Jal Shakti

Currently in office. Recent documented activity, with sources, is recorded on the media and statements pages.

C. R. Patil at a press conference alongside the Chief Minister of Gujarat, with party microphones on the table in front of them.
At a press conference with the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
C. R. Patil seated at his office desk with telephones and papers, beside a chair draped with a party-marked cloth.
At the state party office.
On reading this chronology This page records offices held and elections contested, with dates. It does not rank him against other politicians, assess his performance, or make any prediction about future elections. Programme outcomes achieved during a period in office are set out on the relevant programme pages, where the responsible department and the reporting date are named.

Sources and references

  1. Lok Sabha member profile, Navsari (Member ID 4452), Parliament of India — sansad.in
  2. Navsari parliamentary constituency results 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2024, as compiled from Election Commission of India returns
  3. Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India — jalshakti.gov.in
  4. Contemporary reporting of the Gujarat state party presidency and of the succession on 4 October 2025

Last updated: September 2026