herone of the reasons for the firm roots struck by the party in the tribaldominated areas of dhule and nandurbar was the dedicated work put in by her it is significant that indira gandhi rajiv gandhi and sonia gandhi made it a point to launch their poll campaign in maharashtra from these tribal districts she stayed away from the factionalism within the state congress and kept her line of communication with delhi intact in fact her refusal to be drawn into the political orbit of sharad pawar was one of her main plus points in the eyes of the congress high commandtai has set up a number of schools and educational institutions mostly for girls in maharashtra including jalgaon and pune said nitiraj sinh shekhawat her husband devisingh shekhawats cousin tai believes in selfless service in the true indian tradition and also subscribes to family values added nitiraj 35 who is a congress corporator in the amravati civic body pratibhatai hasnt allowed politics to dim her passion for womens education social service or law said kripa shankar singh adding even when she was a member of the maharashtra assembly she would come to the house only after attending the court pratibhatai and her husband devisingh shekhawat set up a number of trusts to sustain their educational and sociocultural activities devisingh shekhawat was also elected mayor of amravati in the 1980sbetween 1982 and 1985 she was cabinet minister in maharashtra in charge of urban development department and later the civil supplies and social welfare departments as minister pratibhatai gave a good account of herself on the floor of the assembly she never went to the house without doing her homework she never let the opposition cow her down quiet but determined she made her point said a former ias official who has been a close witness to pratibhatais long ministerial stint in 1985 she was catapulted to national politics when the congress handpicked her for the rajya sabha pratibhatais stint as deputychairperson of the rajya sabha won her praise from the late rajiv gandhi it is saidas tv news channels beamed reports of pratibha patil being chosen the official upa nominee her sprawling bungalow in amravati and her brothers house in dikshitwadi in jalgaon became venues for celebrationthe crowd outside the bungalow has been swelling janardan ghurde personal aide of devisingh shekhawat told tnn over phone from amravati we are certainly very happy about this tai will be the first woman president of the country and this is a glowing tribute to her devotion to the field of academia stated ghurde