Shivraj Patil, seven time Member of Parliament from Latur was sworn in as Governor of Punjab on 22nd January, 2010.

Shivraj Vishwanath Patil,born October 12, 1935 is a member of the Rajya Sabha from Congress party. Previously he had been the Speaker of the 11th Lok Sabha and served the Manmohan Singh cabinet as the Union Minister of Home Affairs.

He has also served the Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi cabinets as the defence minister during the 80′s. He resigned from the post of Home-Minister on November 30, 2008 following widespread criticism raised after terrorist attacks on Mumbai. He resigned taking the moral responsibility for the attacks.

Patil was born in 1935 in the village of Chakur in the Latur district. He attended Osmania University, Hyderabad, earning a graduation degree in Science and studied Law at Bombay University. During 1967-69, he was involved in local government (Latur Municipality).Patil belongs to the Lingayat community. He married Vijaya Patil in June 1963.

Between 1972-79, he was member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for two terms during which time he held various positions such as Chairman of Public Undtertakings Committee, Deputy Minister (Las & Judiciary, Irrigation, Protocol), Deputy Speaker of the Assembly and Speaker of the Assembly.In 1980, he got elected to the 7th Lok Sabha. By 1999 (13th Lok Sabha), he had won seven successive Lok Sabha elections in 1980, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998 and 1999.