He started his political career as a worker for the Jan Sangh, of which was he was a founder member, in 1960s. In 1975, the Jan Sangh-Congress coalition came to power in Gujarat. After the emergency, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Rajkot constituency in 1977. Later, he resigned and joined Babubhai Patel's Janata Morcha government as an agriculture minister from 1978 to 1980. He was then involved in relief work following 1979 Machchhu dam failure which devastated Morbi. He won assembly elections from Kalavad, Gondal and Visavadar between 1978 and 1995. In 1980, when Jan Sangh was dissolved, he became a senior organiser of the newly-formed Bharatiya Janata Party. He was Deputy Chief Ministers of Gujarat of Gujarat from 4 March 1990 to 25 October 1990 under Chimanbhai Patel. He organized the election campaign against Congress and led BJP to win in 1995 assembly election. He became the chief minister of Gujarat on 14 March 1995 but resigned seven months later as his colleague Shankersinh Vaghela revolted against him. Suresh Mehta succeeded him as a consensus chief minister. BJP was split as Rashtriya Janata Party was formed by Vaghela who became the chief minister in October 1996 with support of the Congress. Assembly was dissolved in 1998 as Congress withdrew its support for RJP. BJP returned to power led by Patel in the 1998 assembly elections and he became the chief minister again on 4 March 1998. Patel resigned as the chief minister on 2 October 2001 due to his failing health. Allegations of abuse of power, corruption and poor administration, as well as a loss of BJP seats in by-elections and mismanagement of relief works in the aftermath of the 2001 Bhuj earthquake, prompted the BJP's national leadership to seek a new candidate for the office of chief minister. He was succeeded by Narendra Modi. Patel did not contest the 2002 Gujarat assembly election. He was elected to Rajya Sabha unopposed in 2002. In the 2007 Gujarat assembly elections, he urged his community to vote for change. He "blessed" the Indian National Congress and did not even cast his vote. BJP again won the election with a clear majority and formed a government led by Modi. He did not renew his BJP membership, resigned from the BJP on 4 August 2012 and launched the Gujarat Parivartan Party to contest in 2012 Gujarat legislative assembly election. He won from Visavadar constituency against the BJP candidate Kanubhai Bhalala, while GPP won just two seats including his own. He resigned from the post of president of GPP in January 2014 and later resigned as a member of Gujarat Legislative Assembly due to his ill health on 13 February 2014. Later, GPP merged with BJP on 24 February 2014.
Personal life
He married Leela Patel and has five sons and a daughter. His son, Bharat Patel, is a member of BJP. His wife died in their home in Gandhinagar after an electrical fire broke out in the exercise room on 21 September 2006. On 9 September 2017, his 60-year-old son, Pravin Patel, living in the US, died of cardiac arrest.
