Dr. Sunil Panjabrao Deshmukh (born 28 May 1958) was the Member of Legislative Assembly from the constituency of Amravati, Maharashtra, India. He belonged to the Indian National Congress (INC) which he quit in 2009 when he did not get a ticket. He is also the Minister of State for Finance and Planning, Public Works and Energy in the current cabinet of the Government of Maharashtra. He is the guardian minister for Amravati and Bhandara Districts of Vidarbha, Maharashtra. Additionally, he also serves as the ex-officio Vice-Chairman of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board's holding company and as the co-chairman of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Ltd.
From October 2004 to December 2008, he held the portfolios for Water Resources, Command Area Development and Parliamentary Affairs in addition to Finance and Planning in former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's cabinet. He was also the Vice-Chairman of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation Ltd. from 1999 to 2004.
He is a formerly practicing Radiologist. He completed his MBBS from the Government Medical College, Nagpur in 1981. From the same institution, he completed his M.D. (Radiology) in 1986.
He has been elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly twice from the constituency of Amravati. Both the times, he defeated his nearest contestant, Jagdish Motilal Gupta of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by about 10,000 votes and about 32,000 votes respectively.
He is widely credited with changing the face of modern Amravati. It is due to his efforts that a number of important projects were implemented for the betterment of the constituency. These include the Integrated Road Development Project (IRDP), the construction of a Superspeciality Hospital in the city and the sanctioning of a Five-Star MIDC and the introduction of the Advantage Amravati plan, due to which amravati has attracted considerable industrial and commercial investment. Besides, he has also worked for the upliftment of the backward classes and slum dwellers by bringing the gharkul yojana to Amravati, which provided concrete houses to such people for merely Rs. 100. Official figures state that nearly 20,000 such houses have been constructed in Amravati.
Ongoing projects under him include the construction of a state-of-the-art Amravati Airport and the sanctioning of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) near Amravati, so as to attract industries and generate employment opportunities.
Vidhan Sabha Elections 2009: In the recently held Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) elections of 2009 Dr.Deshmukh had to rebel against his party The Indian National Congress. Despite being a sitting member from Amravati for last 2 terms &also undertaking slew of projects to change the face of Amravati his claim for the Amravati seat was overlooked in favour of Mr.Raosaheb Shekhavat by Congress Party. Mr.Shekhavat is the only son of current President of India Ms.Prathiba Patil. It is alleged that Raosaheb got the ticket at behest of Rashtrapati Bhavan which lobbied strongly for his candidature. Dr.Deshmukh was offered a ticket from neighboring Achalpur constituency which he refused saying he can't seek a mandate from constituency where he has not worked.He was also reportedly offered a Cabinet Ministry & membership of Legislative Council if he withdrew from race as a rebel. However Dr.Deshmukh refused to withdraw from fray terming this as a fight between 'an ordinary man of Amravati' vs combined might of 'Rashtrapati Bhavan',state machinery & the Indian National Congress. In a very close contest Dr.Deshmukh polled 55,717 votes against 61,331 votes polled by Mr.Shekhavat & lost narrowly. This valiant fight will be remembered for a long time.