He held a position in the Indian Union Government as the Union Minister of State for Coal.
He was Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet in UPA II when Vilasrao Deshmukh was the Cabinet Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
He was the Minister of State for Youth Affairs an Sports in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet in UPA II when Ajay Maken was heading the ministry.
He was also a member of the 14th Lok Sabha from Sangli, Maharashtra after he won the bypoll held due to death of his father, Prakashbapu Vasantdada Patil.
In 2019 he resigned from the Indian National Congress Party and declared that he is quitting politics. He further concentrated on social activities under the organisation in name of his grandfather Vasantdada Patil. He also declared that from then onwards his younger brother Vishal Patil would represent the Vasantdada Patil family in politics.
Since 2019 he took a backstage giving the torch to his younger brother, who contested the Sangli Lok Sabha Constituency elections in 2019.
In 2024 when the Lok Sabha seat of Sangli went to Shiv Sena UBT in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, Vishal Patil was forced to contest as Independent candidate and he was the one who took the elections in his hands and helped Vishal Patil gain support of VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar and other leaders within the district across parties.
